West Ham have removed references to Russell Brand from their website after the actor and comedian was found guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others.
Brand, a prominent West Ham supporter who regularly featured on the club’s official channels, was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison on Monday.
The 51-year-old was cleared of two further counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault after a jury deliberated for eight-and-a-half hours. His four-week trial concluded at Southwark Crown Court last Thursday.
Brand is also facing further rape allegations from two women and has already been questioned by officers in relation to the complaints. The Metropolitan Police said its investigation ‘remains ongoing’.
West Ham appear to have distanced themselves from Brand, who grew up in east London and inherited his support for the club from his father, following the guilty verdict.
Among the references removed from the club’s website is a 2023 article published after West Ham’s Conference League triumph, which stated that ‘comedian and actor Russell Brand, a globally recognised Hammers fan, documented himself watching the game live’.
Brand, a prominent West Ham fan who regularly featured on the club’s website, was sentenced to ten-and-a-half years in prison on Monday (above kissing former boss Sam Allardyce)
References to Brand have been removed from West Ham’s website following the guilty verdict
Brand was frequently given VIP access by the club which he supported from childhood (pictured above with Hammers legend Trevor Brooking)
In an interview with FourFourTwo magazine in February 2009, Brand spoke of his admiration for former West Ham captain Mark Noble, saying: ‘I can snog Pink or throw Christina Aguilera around a bit. But when Mark Noble comes in, I get tongue-tied. Now how does that work?’
Brand was frequently granted VIP access by the club and conducted post-match interviews in which he kissed former managers Sam Allardyce and Slaven Bilic.
Daily Mail Sport understands that Brand is not a season ticket holder and has never held any formal relationship with the club.
The removal of references to Brand from the club’s website comes after publishers confirmed they had withdrawn his books from sale.
Hodder & Stoughton, which published Brand’s best-selling memoir My Booky Wook, is one of several publishers who have confirmed it has withdrawn his titles from sale.
My Booky Wook was the UK’s Christmas No1 best-seller in 2007 but returned to the spotlight during the trial, when jurors were shown extracts in which Brand boasted about his sexual exploits and attitudes towards women.
Prosecutors argued the passages supported the accounts of several of his accusers.
In one extract read to the jury, Brand said he would not have stopped until he got his ‘birthright orgasm’.
Brand pictured with former West Ham midfielder Enner Valencia and Noel Gallagher after a Premier League match between West Ham and Man City at Upton Park
The removal of references to Brand from the club’s website comes after publishers confirmed they had withdrawn his books from sale
Pan Macmillan, one of Britain’s largest publishers, also said it was in the process of withdrawing Brand’s books.
On Thursday, Brand was found guilty of raping a 21-year-old fan after meeting her at a 2009 stand-up show at the Hammersmith Apollo.
He was also found guilty of groping another MTV worker during a party at a Soho bar in 2004, but not guilty of orally raping her in a toilet.
Jurors found Brand guilty of sexually assaulting a Capital Radio worker after meeting her in a corridor in 2005 and guilty of sexually assaulting a Channel 4 worker during a forced massage in 2009.
He was cleared of raping a woman he met at a cabaret show on the fringes of the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth and was found not guilty of trying to drag an MTV worker into a toilet to indecently assault her in 2001.
The judge, Mr Justice Bentham, told him: ‘You’ve been convicted of a number of offences including rape. The consequence of that is inevitably a significant custodial term.’
A conviction of rape can carry a life sentence, with standard maximum determinate sentences often reaching up to 19 years depending on the severity and guidelines.
Sexual assault convictions, meanwhile, carry a maximum sentence of ten years per count.
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