The BBC is accused of ignoring claims that Russell Brand exposed himself to a woman in the corporation’s LA office – despite the comedian laughing about it on air.
Brand, 51, is alleged to have followed the victim, known by the pseudonym ‘Olivia’, into the toilets and flashed his penis at her in June 2008.
He later joked about the incident while recording The Russell Brand Show for Radio 2.
The BBC did not investigate it at the time, despite Matt Morgan, Brand’s co-host, saying on air that the comedian had ‘showed his willy to a lady’ 25 minutes prior.
The corporation also chose not to cut Mr Morgan’s comment, despite the show being pre-recorded.
Brand will be sentenced tomorrow after being found guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others between about 2004 and 2009 to feed his ‘voracious’ and violent lust.
Brand’s victims told Southwark Crown Court how he forced them into sexual activity, sometimes within seconds of first meeting them, while exploiting his fame in pursuit of a goal of sleeping with 5,000 women.
His wife, Laura Gallacher, who supported him throughout the four-week trial, sat crying and put her head in her hands as the four guilty verdicts were returned on Thursday. He was cleared of three more.
Russell Brand at the Annual Guys Choice Awards in Los Angeles in May 2008
Olivia, who was not employed by the BBC but worked for a different company in the building, said she did not feel able to report the incident with Brand in 2008 because she was worried about what would happen to her if she did.
She told The Times: ‘I’d like to think my employer would have backed me, but I was worried that if I had gone up against him and lost, I would have been responsible for any costs.
‘It was a very different time and culture. There were also elements of embarrassment that this creep did this to me. It was shame.’
The incident was discussed among staff at the BBC’s LA office, with the corporation last year admitting it was ‘often joked about’.
In 2019, Olivia spoke to a member of staff at BBC News, who she claimed urged her to report it.
Once the incident was escalated at the BBC, Olivia was informed that Brand would never be allowed to return to the LA Bureau again. The rule did not apply to offices in other countries.
In 2025, the BBC published a report by Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, into the comedian’s conduct during his time working at the corporation.
Johnston wrote that no staff members raised concerns in 2008 because ‘the nature of the content on Russell Brand’s show was such that material of this nature was common and often invented, so it is likely the team involved in the (pre-recorded) show did not realise this related to a real situation’.
Brand, 51, pictured outside Southwark Crown Court on Thursday with his wife Laura Gallacher
Johnston apologised to Olivia last year.
There was also no record of the complaint being passed to senior staff at Radio 2.
The BBC said in a statement on Sunday: ‘Firstly, the thoughts of everyone at the BBC are with the brave women who came forward and told their stories which led to a conviction in this case.
‘There can be no place for the abuse of power. Across the industry we must work together to ensure that anyone who suffers at someone else’s hand feels able to report it, that their concerns are taken seriously and that they are listened to.
Hi, I’m Alex Matthews, Editor of The Crime Desk.
Russell Brand has been found guilty of rape and three sexual assaults – and our reporters Caroline Cheetham and Liz Hull were in court every day to witness it all. They sat down with Detective Inspector Laura Nelson who revealed why the women who accused him in the infamous documentary were not involved in his rape trial.
‘We published a detailed report in January 2025 into how complaints about Russell Brand’s conduct were handled. This looked at eight allegations of misconduct while he worked here between 2006 and 2008.
‘It was of great concern to us that some people felt unable to raise concerns about Brand’s behaviour. We apologised to those impacted, for both the culture and failings at the time, and we reiterate that apology again today.’
Brand closed his eyes on Thursday as he was convicted of raping a 21-year-old fan he picked out of the crowd after one of his Hammersmith Apollo gigs in 2009.
Brand, then 33, pushed the woman’s face down into a pillow on his ‘enormous’ bed and removed his condom while raping her at his £2.3million Hampstead mansion, leaving her struggling to breathe.
She was left bleeding from her anus and afterwards said Brand ordered her to ‘clean up the mess you’ve made’ before switching on the TV to watch the science-fiction series Quantum Leap.
The woman tried to clear up before being ushered out by a member of staff. A driver then handed her tissues as he took her home. Fearing she had contracted HIV, she underwent tests, which came back negative.
It was on Thursday revealed that Brand has also been accused of raping two more women, including a 16-year-old schoolgirl, with the Crown Prosecution Service seeking to bring further charges.
