Lily Allen has criticised Russell Brand, Jimmy Carr and Jonathan Ross for making rape jokes about her while she was on the Channel 4 panel show The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year.
READ MORE: What has Russell Brand been accused of?
The singer, who in recent years has pursed acting, said in a new interview that although she didn’t take offence at the time she now realises how “horrendous” they were.
Her comments come in the wake of Brand being accused by multiple women of sexual assault and in some cases emotional abuse.
Brand has denied the majority of the accusations levelled against him to date, however, he has not publicly responded to more recent ones including allegedly sexually assaulting an extra on the set of his 2010 film Arthur.
A clip of the moment the rape jokes were made during a 2007 episode of the series went viral on X (formerly Twitter) after rape allegations surfaced against Brand in September.
In the episode in question, Ross moved Allen, whom he calls “the only sexually attractive young lady” on the show, away from panellists Brand and Fielding, stating: “And then Lily may go home with her dress still on.”
Fielding then replied: “How dare you – we’re not rapists.”
Host Carr then quizzed Fielding about why he was wearing a cape “if [he] wasn’t a rapist” before Fielding pointed out that the cape he’s wearing is, in fact, a Jack the Ripper cape.
Fielding said: “He wasn’t a rapist, he was a…”, before Brand interjected to say: “Serial murderer”.
Brand continued: “There is no direct corollary between rapes and capes, it’s just a rhyme.”
Lily Allen. CREDIT: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Allen has now spoken to Grazia UK about the incident.
“[There was a clip] where I was on a chat show with Russell Brand and Noel Fielding and Jonathan Ross. And there are comments, I think, about me being raped or something. And I laugh along with it. In retrospect, that’s really horrendous,” she said.
“It makes me uncomfortable, but I don’t think I felt that at the time, because it was the culture.”
Since The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches published their joint investigation into Brand, both Channel 4 and the BBC have opened investigations into Brand.
The Metropolitan Police has requested information from The Times and Channel 4’s investigation regarding any alleged offences, and have urged any victims to come forward.
Women’s charity Trevi Women and literacy agency Tavistock Wood have cut ties with the former TV host and actor turned streamer and wellness guru, while Channel 4 have also removed all content featuring Brand from their streaming service.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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