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Comedian Katherine Ryan said she felt “grief and relief” after Russell Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault, as public figures reacted to the verdict and praised the women who came forward. Anadolu Agency reported the reactions.
Brand, 51, was convicted on Thursday at Southwark Crown Court in London of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women. He was acquitted of two other rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Brand denied all the charges. He was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on Monday.
Speaking on the latest episode of her podcast, “Telling Everybody Everything”, Ryan said many women were communicating “privately and quietly” after the verdict and experiencing “a very nuanced mix of emotions”.
“It really made me feel just quite dysregulated again, caught off-guard, emotional, in awe of the survivors who also had nothing to gain,” she said. “They came forward despite Russell Brand having fame, power, money, and a legion of fans ready to attack them.”
Ryan said she would not celebrate another person’s downfall, but believed the verdict had delivered a measure of justice. “There’s a level of relief, but there’s grief alongside relief,” she said.
The Canadian comedian and television personality said she continued to think about those who had been hurt and would carry the effects of their experiences after the trial.
In a 2022 BBC documentary interview with Louis Theroux, Ryan had said there was a “predator” in the entertainment industry. She did not name the man, saying that doing so would create a “litigious minefield”, but said she had worked with him on a television programme and confronted him directly.
It was widely speculated that Ryan was referring to Brand, with whom she appeared on Comedy Central’s “Roast Battle” in 2018. She did not publicly confirm his identity at the time.
Ryan also criticised Brand’s barrister, Ian Winter, after he confronted “The Sunday Times” journalist Rosamund Urwin outside court following the verdict. Urwin worked on a 2023 joint investigation by “The Sunday Times”, “The Times” and Channel 4’s “Dispatches” that reported allegations against Brand and prompted a police investigation. Ryan called Winter’s conduct “unprofessional”, “inappropriate” and “aggressive”.
Katy Brand and Bear Grylls welcome verdict
British comedian and writer Katy Brand, who is not related to Russell Brand, also welcomed the verdict and criticised entertainment industry figures she said had enabled his behaviour.
“Russell Brand guilty. Good,” she wrote on Instagram, adding that it was difficult to convey how powerful he had once been in British television.
Katy Brand said that in meetings about comedy projects, producers had repeatedly suggested creating roles for Russell Brand. She said many powerful executives continued to support him despite concerns circulating within the industry.
She praised his accusers and said numerous women had been abused or held back professionally while Brand remained a dominant figure in entertainment. Katy Brand had previously said she threatened to leave a television project in 2019 after producers proposed casting him. She said the project was eventually abandoned after he declined the role.
Television adventurer Bear Grylls, who attended Brand’s private Christian baptism in the River Thames in 2024, said Brand’s religious conversion had seemed sincere to him at the time.
Grylls said his faith encouraged him to support people seeking forgiveness, including those who had committed serious crimes, while acknowledging the authority of the courts. “It is right that justice has now been served,” he wrote on X, describing the women involved in the case as “the heroes of the day”.
He said he could not imagine how difficult the proceedings had been for the victims. Grylls’s participation in the baptism had previously drawn criticism because it took place after the 2023 media investigation reported multiple allegations of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse. Brand denied those allegations at the time.
Megyn Kelly calls conviction ‘a travesty’
US journalist Megyn Kelly reacted differently, calling Brand’s conviction “a travesty” on her web-based programme and questioning the account of the woman he was convicted of raping.
Kelly, who had previously interviewed Brand, also posted details about the woman’s sexual history on social media in an attempt to challenge the verdict. Her comments drew widespread criticism, with users accusing her of victim-blaming and of failing to recognise that consent can be withdrawn during a sexual encounter.
The Crown Prosecution Service said Brand had used his celebrity status to commit sexual crimes and had shown disregard for whether women had consented.
Police said the comedian remained under investigation over two further rape allegations and urged anyone else who may have been affected to come forward.
