Russell gets damages over drug rape story - June 22 2007
Russell Brand has accepted substantial undisclosed damages over a claim that a girl was drugged and raped during a party at his flat.

The former Big Brother presenter, who is patron of the drug rehabilitation charity Focus 12, was not at London’s High Court for the settlement of his libel action against Express Newspapers.

His solicitor, Paul Fox, told Mr Justice Eady that articles which appeared in the Daily Star in September last year described the victim’s allegations that she was slipped a drugged drink and raped during a party at the star’s rented flat during the Edinburgh festival.

"The meaning of the article was that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the claimant drugged and raped a young woman. This was totally untrue.

"The claimant was never suspected of the alleged rape nor was there any evidence at all to involve him in its circumstances."

Mr Fox said that Russell was obliged to issue a press statement denying any involvement in the alleged rape.

After the police inquiry in October, the comedian, by a solicitors’ letter, demanded an apology. The solicitor added that the demand for an apology was rejected and, in November, Russell began legal proceedings.

Express Newspapers then made an unqualified offer of amends and, in December, published an apology in the Daily Star.

He added that the newspaper had agreed to pay a substantial sum to compensate the star for the harm to his reputation, and his legal costs.


Russell: I love fame - June 20 2007
Russell Brand has admitted he loves his hard-earned fame, saying his previous life was "so boring".

The former drug addict, who quit the show that made him famous, Big Brother’s Big Mouth, earlier this year, is back on screens tonight playing a stalker in ITV1’s Cold Blood.

He told The Daily Telegraph: "People tell me it must be a great relief to go on holiday and get away from having a high profile, but I always say ’No, I like being famous!’"

Big-haired Russell, who is starring in his first film St Trinian’s and is writing his autobiography, joked: "I’m not one of those celebrities who moans, ’Please don’t bother me’. I say ’For God’s sake, pester me’.

"My previous life was so boring, I want you to photograph me all the time. I hound the paparazzi day and night."

The 32-year-old added: "It’s been such an arduous, 15-year slog to get to this point, I’m certainly not going to complain about it now I’m here.

"We’re working towards complete and utter global exposure, so there’s not a hut, a satellite space station or an oil rig on the planet where people don’t know who I am."


Brits off hook for Brand’s ’edgy’ joke - June 4 2007
The Brit Awards have escaped censure by media watchdog Ofcom over jokes made by TV host Russell Brand.

The star’s comments about the Queen, drugs, Robbie Williams, Iraq, and intimate parts of the body, broadcast on ITV1, sparked 262 complaints.

The comic, 31, joked about allegations that Conservative Party leader David Cameron took drugs as a teenager.

He added: "Who among us didn’t smoke just a little bit of weed at school, just to take the edge off those irksome crack come-downs?"