British actor-comedian Russell Brand was accused in a lawsuit filed on Friday of sexually assaulting a film extra on the New York City set of the 2011 romantic comedy Arthur in which he starred as a boozing, philandering heir to a fortune.
The suit follows a recent flurry of allegations reported in the British news media against the 48-year-old performer by several women accusing him of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior, some dating back 20 years.
British police have said they were investigating a number of the allegations, but the New York lawsuit filed on Friday marks the first such accusation leveled in court.
Photo: Reuters
It was brought in state court under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which gives accusers a one-year window to sue over alleged sexual abuse from a long time ago, even if statutes of limitations have expired.
Warner Bros Pictures, which distributed Arthur, was also named as a defendant, along with other companies involved in the film production. They were accused of negligence and of aiding and abetting Brand by tolerating his misconduct on the set.
Brand in September denied on his social media channels having ever engaged in non-consensual sex.
Brand’s representatives in New York and London did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the newly filed lawsuit. Neither did Warner Bros.
The complaint was brought by a woman identified only as Jane Doe who said she was hired to appear as a cast extra in a scene from Arthur filmed at Le Cirque restaurant in Manhattan, New York City, in July 2010.
The film, a box office dud that drew generally negative reviews, was a remake of a highly successful 1981 movie starring Dudley Moore in the title role as a drunken New York City millionaire on the brink of an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress when he falls for a free-spirited, working-class woman.
According to the lawsuit, Brand was visibly intoxicated during the production and exposed his genitalia to the plaintiff as he sat at a table staring at her, “openly and obviously in the presence of everyone on set,” including film studio employees who treated his behavior as acceptable.
Afterward, the complaint alleges, Brand followed the woman into a restroom, where he again pulled down his pants, then shoved her into a stall and forced her to perform oral sex on him, all while a production crew member stood directly outside as if to guard the door.
The accuser said the assault caused “severe psychological injuries” and economic losses.
The suit seeks unspecified money damages from Brand on grounds of assault, battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress.
Brand, the former husband of US pop singer Katy Perry and once one of Britain’s most high-profile comedians and broadcasters, had repositioned himself in recent years as an internet social commentator, logging more than 6 million followers on his YouTube channel.
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
TIGHTENING: Zhu Hengpeng, who worked for an influential think tank, has reportedly not been seen in public since making disparaging remarks on WeChat A leading Chinese economist at a government think tank has reportedly disappeared after being disciplined for criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in a private chat group. Zhu Hengpeng (朱恆鵬), 55, is believed to have made disparaging remarks about China’s economy, and potentially about the Chinese leader specifically, in a private WeChat group. Zhu was subsequently detained in April and put under investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Zhu worked for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) for more than 20 years, most recently as the Institute of Economics deputy director and director of the Public Policy Research Center. He
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost