Russell Brand signing copies of his book My Bookie Wouk in Dublin, 2007. Photo: FilmMagic
In 2015, magazine readers Prospect Magazine, the home magazine of the British thinker's circle, named Russell Brand «the fourth most influential thinker in the world.» That same year, this intellectual titan was also a panelist on BBC's Question Time. Jeremy Paxman interviewed him on Newsnight; We're told that what Russell Brand thinks matters a lot.
In the run-up to the 2015 general election, some media commentators believed that Brand's support was the key to the youth vote. This caused some stir when Brand, who had previously urged people to abstain from voting because he believed elections were a sham that merely served to legitimize a flawed system, came out and endorsed Ed Miliband, the then Labor leader.
Brand's vacuous statements on politics and much more were eagerly sought after by various left-wing organizations; he guest edited an issue of the New Statesman and wrote regularly for The Guardian. He fancied himself an active campaigner and championed various fashionable causes; “media bias”, inequality and, inevitably, global warming.
He published books that were critically acclaimed; Steve Richards in The Independent raved: “Brand writes and speaks with verve, the words flow easily and musically”; another writer in The Observer said: «Russell Brand's hilarious tale of drugs and debauchery in My Booky Wook puts most other celebrity memoirs to shame.» “My Buki Vuk,” by the way, is what the great thinker called his autobiography.
Russell Brand appears in the issue of Time, December 2014 Photo: BBC
Meanwhile, for more than a decade, Brand was surrounded by a lot of garlands from the entertainment industry. If you bother to check, you will find that this is a person positively laden with rewards. Only three of these have won British Comedy Awards, culminating in 2009 with one for Outstanding Contribution to Comedy. And I have to say, it does bring a smile, because given the slew of lurid allegations that have surfaced over the last 48 hours about Brand's sexual proclivities, you'd have to say the joke is on them — all of them.
It really makes you wonder what it was about Brand's primitive proto-Marxist program (which was really nothing more than a hatred of the Tory party and all things conservative) that made all these smart people fall for his charm. (It also makes you wonder what other geniuses were on Prospect's list — but that's another story.) By the time all those gongs came crashing down on his head, Russell Brand was already firmly established in that part of society that likes to consider itself «… anti-establishment.» And his fame was largely due to the patronage of the BBC.
For more than ten years — until Brand went to conquer Hollywood — the Corporation simply could not get enough of him. At first it was just guest appearances, but in 2005 he was given his own show on Radio Two, which attracted a large audience until an episode in which Brand and Jonathan Ross called actor Andrew Sachs and said they had sex with Sachs. young granddaughter. The joke caused public disgust and Brand briefly left the BBC, although he was soon invited to appear again on other BBC programmes.
This successful career of Brand, a media star, tells us a lot about modern culture. Brand's schtick was a mixture of music, cruel humor and lewd sexual innuendo, and the recipe worked well; he became a big name on Channel 4's Big Brother, his radio show was popular, his career as a stand-up comedian was hugely successful. But it’s not like he ever really hid his passions; sex, edgy, transgressive sex has always been the main ingredient in the mix.
There's an infamous interview he did with Jimmy Savile on the Radio 2 show in which they both joke about Brand sending one of his show's assistants to give him a nude massage. It didn't look so funny when Savile was outed as a predatory sexual deviant in 2012. But as you can see from the dates above, the BBC happily continued to use Brand after Savile's fall. What exactly was happening? Why didn't someone at the Corporation carefully review their person's credentials?
The obvious and depressing truth is that no one at the BBC thought there was anything particularly wrong: «Yes, maybe our boy went too far sometimes, yes, maybe that conversation with Savile was a little close to the knuckle.» but damn, look at this. ratings. Man's cash register; bring him.» This will not come as a surprise to anyone interested in the Corporation's products. It's hard to believe now that the BBC once had a reputation as a sanctimonious guardian of national morality; From the disapproving, stern «auntie» to the giggling, dirty-minded pimp, the BBC's decline has been swift.
Russell Brand leaves his home in north London on October 29, 2008, the day the BBC announced his suspension along with Jonathan Ross due to… for Sachs's affairs. Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley
The corporation is not only keeping up, but is also at the forefront of the campaign for the abolition of sexual restrictions. Sex sells, as advertisers say, and the BBC was quick to embrace it. Since the 1960s, the BBC has always been «pushing the boundaries», with its offerings becoming more explicit year after year. The BBC played its part in preparing the nation to accept sex as mere entertainment. His dramatic offerings leave little to the imagination these days. The only thing it still seems to disapprove of these days is pedophilia. Otherwise everything is fine.
And where has this moral revolution led us? We now live in a society where sexual excess is commonplace. No one is taught (least of all the BBC) that restraint in sexual matters is a much surer path to personal happiness than unfettered promiscuity. And absolutely no one wants to highlight the destructive impact of sexual permissiveness on family stability and, as a result, on the happiness and well-being of children. No one at the BBC seems willing to connect the dots between the sexual revolution and some of the most intransigent and debilitating problems plaguing our society, such as the epidemic of mental illness among young people.
Anna Richardson, presenter of Channel 4's Naked Attraction. Photo: Channel 4
Of course, this doesn't just apply to the BBC. The rest took it up with the same enthusiasm. “Channel Four” — another state television company, let us remind you — went further and faster. I thought they pretty much got it right when they aired Naked Lust in 2016. The show is nothing less than a genital beauty parade where contestants choose partners based on how attractive they find their private parts. Yes, it's that simple.
But, always keen to push the envelope, last year Channel 4 presented My Massive C___ — a supposedly serious look at the problems faced by men with large penises. He also received good grades; You can't blame these government-funded pornographers for their creativity — they know their audience.
During lockdown in 2021, Channel 4 aired drama It's a Sin, which one critic described as «wonderful, hedonistic and naughty». She said it was «obviously dirty, with lots of threesomes and foursomes as the characters fucked and kissed in 1980s London.» Twenty years ago a flying drop of bodily fluid would have caused pandemonium, but now even the Daily Mail won't have an article… see how far we've come?
Russell Brand with Michael Ball and Jimmy Tarbuck at the 2007 Royal Variety Performance. Photo: Pennsylvania
Another way to put it is: look how far we have fallen. And here's another depressing truth: if the BBC, Channel 4 and others were complicit in promoting films like Savile and Brand, we, the audience, were complicit too. These programs, which are really all about sex, attract good audiences; Naked Attraction has already completed 10 episodes.
There has been quite a lot of talk about Brand in the media over the past couple of days. The “Today” program sounded about this: “…shocked, shocked, I tell you.” I don't know why they will. They only have to look around at the culture we now live in and the performance of the organization they work for to see that the BBC is in the gutter with the rest of the rubbish. The brand is a symptom of a sex-saturated culture; our moral standards are lowered and everyone pretends to be surprised when some men take this as a green light to condone bad behavior.
Brand has now been charged but not found guilty of wrongdoing, but – whatever the outcome of his sad and troubling case – I predict that nothing significant will change. We as a society have made our choice and no one, especially the broadcasters, seems willing to change course.
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