There's a #MeToo before and after the pandemic
Comedian Russell Brand has built his brand on the sexism-shock factor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he resurfaced in a rabbit hole as a conspiracy-driven influencer, representing a new wave of internet stars known as "The Dark Economics of Russell Brand," where violence and victim-blaming is turned into views and currency.
Recent allegations against Russell Brand have rekindled the #MeToo movement. This follows the publication of accusations by three British media outlets, The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4's Dispatches, regarding a series of sexual assaults from 2006 to 2013. Brand denies the allegations, emphasizing in a video shared on YouTube and X (formerly known as Twitter) that all his relationships during his "promiscuous" phase were "consensual." The documentary "Russell Brand: In plain sight," aired on Channel 4 on September 16, tells a different story from the victims' perspectives. Since then, more accusations of sexual abuse have emerged, and Scotland Yard has initiated an investigation.
Russell Brand, a 48-year-old comedian and actor, built his brand on the shock factor of sexism but had waned in popularity. He found a new audience as a popular provocateur with a loyal fan base, and he re-emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic as a conspiracy-driven influencer. He now attracts massive attention as a victim of what he calls the "corporatist state and global media." In a video he uploaded to Rumble shortly after the police announced their investigation, he encourages his followers to "oppose rising authoritarian centralized power."
Brand's transformation is just one of many examples of the conspiracy culture that gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns when community engagement shifted online. As Joe Mulhall from the organization Hope Not Hate, which monitors far-right groups, explains to The New York Times, some people who were naturally skeptical of the pharmaceutical industry's monopoly began questioning COVID-19 vaccines and were subsequently "drawn into much broader conspiracy theories through online communities." There was suddenly a shorter distance between popular culture, lifestyle, health, spirituality, wellness, and similar areas to the realm of conspiracy theories and ultra-conservative topics. As Joe Ondrak, research lead at the company Logically, which analyzes and combats misinformation, tells the BBC: "I think Russell Brand's case is particularly interesting. He follows many of the apparently health-conscious yoga retreats, left-wing, anti-capitalist figures who were sucked into COVID skepticism, COVID denial, and vaccine resistance, and then spat out at the other end into 'The Great Reset.'" The online conspiracy about "The Great Reset" claims that a global elite is using the coronavirus pandemic to dismantle capitalism and enforce radical social changes. Here, Russell, much like Tucker Carlson and the Tate brothers, hides behind an "I'm just asking questions" rhetoric that obscures specific issues.
There's a #MeToo before and after the pandemic
When high-profile individuals are accused of sexual abuse dating back decades in the wake of #MeToo, it has become customary for celebrity friends to step forward and publicly state that they have only experienced the accused person's "good character," as Colin Dickey from The Wall Street Journal puts it. Whether it's Ashton Kutcher calling his "That '70s Show" colleague Danny Masterson an "extraordinarily honest and conscious person," or Lindsay Lohan's 2017 statement that Harvey Weinstein "never harmed me or did anything to me" (both Kutcher and Lohan later retracted their statements). As Dickey concludes, the script has become standard: avoid discussing the specific accusations and focus on the character of the accused, insinuating that the victims are lying.
In Brand's case, the defense is massive but doesn't come from famous colleagues. Instead, conspiracy theorists, far-right fans, influencers, and everything in between from anti-woke rabbit holes have sprung forth in recent weeks. Several media outlets describe Brand as attention-seeking, and his conspiracy career, which kicked off during the pandemic, is just a new stage for a potentially even larger audience. Wired calls it "The Dark Economics of Russell Brand," where victim-blaming can be converted into views and currency. The attention has only intensified in recent weeks. Notable figures from the anti-woke movement, such as Anna Khachiyan from Red Scare, the Tate brothers, Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk, and Ian Miles Cheong, have all united for a common cause, including the conspiracy that the state and the media are conspiring. Tate welcomed Brand "to the club," and Musk responded to Brand's video with the comment: "Of course. They don't like competition." Tucker Carlson also tuned in with the comment: "Criticize the pharmaceutical industry, question the war in Ukraine, and you can be pretty sure this will happen."
According to Mat Shea, who has produced several documentaries about Andrew Tate, most recently "The Man Who Groomed The World," there are clear parallels between Tate and Brand. In a Times Radio interview, he describes the comparison. Although they represent different cases of accusations and are very different people, both professionally and in terms of their influencer personas, they both defend the same erroneous arguments. These are the usual #MeToo arguments aimed at discrediting victims: anyone can make an accusation, as the Tate brothers say in defense of Brand, where he and his brother Tristan Tate go through "how the Matrix attacks." As Andrew Tate says: "the world is controlled by a chosen elite. I call it the Matrix; he [Russell Brand] might call it something else. But we approach it from very different angles. We can meet somewhere in the middle, but I approach it from this side, he approaches it from that side. For a long time, Russell Brand himself was part of the establishment, which actually becomes a very interesting point that I'll return to when we try to understand why he was so viciously attacked on so many platforms." It's about diverting attention from the evidence with a veil of popular conspiracy culture.
As Lindsey Blumell, a lecturer in journalism at the University of London, explains in an article in The Conversation, a common argumentative tactic when discrediting victims is to claim there is insufficient evidence - it's their word against his. "But for those who maintain rape myths, gathering evidence doesn't seem to matter." In this case, the evidence is serious journalism.
In a video shared on social media, journalist Rachel Gilmore discusses how "conspiracy culture helps alleged villains escape alleged very bad things." She emphasizes that Brand has been "training and conditioning his audience for years to take his words alone as the truth."
Russell Brand's transformation illustrates a trend in which popular culture, lifestyle, and health are interwoven with conspiracy theories and controversial subjects. This shift also means that allegations of sexual abuse are increasingly met with support from the conspiracy culture, far-right fans, and anti-woke advocates who use their platforms to challenge #MeToo and cast doubt on the credibility of the victims.
