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British police said on Tuesday that comedian and actor Russell Brand had been charged with a new count of rape and another of sexual assault.
The new charges — authorized by the Crown Prosecution Service — related to two women and followed five charges made in April involving four other women: two counts of rape, one of indecent assault and two of sexual assault, going back more than two decades.
Brand, 50, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Jan. 20, 2026, in relation to the new charges. A trial on the earlier charges is scheduled to begin at Southwark Crown Court on June 16, 2026.
Reuters has attempted to reach Brand for comment.
Brand pleaded not guilty in May to the five original charges. Once a well-known broadcaster in Britain and a former husband of U.S. pop singer Katy Perry, he has denied having non-consensual sex.
In response to the initial charges in April, Brand said on X that while he was a “fool” as a younger man, “what I never was, was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity.”
The actor has moved to the world of social commentary in recent years, hosting a show on the controversial video platform Rumble, which is billed as being “immune from cancel culture.”
The original investigation began in September 2023 after allegations were reported by Channel 4 TV’s Dispatches show and the Sunday Times newspaper.
