Russell Brand: BBC apologises after report into comedian’s behaviour

Thursday’s report found that “only one formal complaint was made about Brand’s inappropriate conduct in the workplace” during his stint on air, and beyond that there was “no evidence that his behaviour was raised with management formally at the time”.

The BBC acknowledged that Brand was “perceived to be too influential” for staff to complain about.

Many of those interviewed for the internal investigation “believed, rightly or wrongly, that Russell Brand would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent”, the report said.

While one informal complaint was also made, the report said “it is clear that there were other concerns but those involved felt unable or unwilling to raise these at the time as they felt the concerns would not be taken seriously and the systems for making complaints were not as clear as they are now”.

It added that “there should have been better systems in place to ensure that Brand’s unacceptable behaviour was promptly picked up and addressed”.

The review also found that Brand had consensual sex with a competition winner from his 6 Music show on BBC premises.

Speaking to the review team, that person said that while what happened was consensual, they now felt “Brand had abused his position and taken advantage of them”.