SUSANNA Reid awkwardly grilled her Good Morning Britain co-host Richard Madeley today over an interview he once did with Russell Brand.<\/p>\n

GMB presenter Richard appeared to make a barbed comment when appearing briefly in the new documentary which accused Brand of rape and sexual assaults he denies.<\/p>\n

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Richard seemed surprised when reminded of the interview this morning by the ITV programme's co-host Susanna and shared his memories of the past encounter.<\/p>\n

Brand appeared on Channel 4's Richard And Judy show in 2007, promoting his second autobiography My Booky Wook 2.<\/p>\n

Madeley's wife Judy Finnegan introduced their guest by saying: "It's a searingly honest account of sex and drug addiction, bulimia and self-harm and it's written by Russell Brand – the lovely, innocent Russell Brand."<\/p>\n

Richard then added the remark: "Butter wouldn't melt."<\/p>\n

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He was asked by Susanna today live on air whether he said that knowing of any allegations against Brand.<\/p>\n

Madeley told how he knew of the star's reputation as "a womaniser" but said he was unaware of any criminal accusations.<\/p>\n

Comedian and film star Brand has denied the new allegations of rape, sexual assault and abuse against four women including one who was only 16 at the time.<\/p>\n

Claims made in a joint investigation by The Times and Channel 4's Dispatches include that he raped a woman against a wall at his Los Angeles apartment.<\/p>\n

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The four women say he attacked them between 2006 and 2013 at the height of his fame, when a presenter for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 as well as starring in Hollywood movies.<\/p>\n

The allegations include not only rape and sexual assault but also emotional and physical abuse.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police has urged other potential victims to come forward after 48-year-old Brand faced multiple abuse accusations.<\/p>\n

Brand posted a video on Friday night to his own YouTube channel, denying any wrongdoing, before the claims had yet been published.<\/p>\n

The married dad-of-two insisted he "absolutely refutes" the accusations and described past\u00a0relationships\u00a0as "always consensual".<\/p>\n

Brand accepted he was "promiscuous" during the height of his fame, but denied any criminal element to his behaviour.<\/p>\n

Richard first replied, "Is there?", when told today there was a clip of him and Judy interviewing Brand in Saturday's Channel 4 Dispatches investigation.<\/p>\n

He said he was "on a plane" when the documentary was broadcast on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

After the moment was shown again on ITV this morning, Susanna asked her fellow presenter: "Did you say that in a way that you kind of knew his reputation, or was there anything more to that?"<\/p>\n

Richard paused before responding how it was "a long time ago now".<\/p>\n

He went on to say: "I never heard allegations he was a rapist or he'd done anything criminal – never heard that.<\/p>\n

"If I had, we would've had to deal with that in an interview.<\/p>\n

"Um, however, as he himself has said in his statement which he issued prior to the documentary going out, he had a terrible reputation as a womaniser – to use an old-fashioned word."<\/p>\n

Richard again insisted he "never heard allegations" about Brand being "anything other than a consensual operator in that field".<\/p>\n

The presenter added: "But, yes, he was an operator – and where there was an opportunity sexually he would chase it up.<\/p>\n

"And he says that himself, he was hugely promiscuous – but I have to say, I worked at Channel 4 at the time, I actually never heard specific allegations that he was breaking the law."<\/p>\n

The BBC and Channel 4 have both launched investigations into any potential offences by Brand while employed by them.<\/p>\n

And MPs have also called for police action.<\/p>\n

Caroline Nokes, Conservative chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, called the allegations "incredibly shocking and criminal" and "first and foremost a matter for the police".<\/p>\n

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I would very much hope that complaints will be made both to the Metropolitan Police and indeed in the States.<\/p>\n

"This merits and needs a criminal investigation, because for too long we have seen men – and the perpetrators of these sorts of crimes are almost invariably men – not being held to account for their behaviours and their actions."<\/p>\n

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Brand's dad Ron Brand, 80, today defended him – calling the allegations "unproven" and asking: "Is this seriously the most important thing happening in the world?"<\/p>\n

He labelled the accusations a "vendetta" in posts on Facebook, MailOnline reported.<\/p>\n

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\nSource: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUSANNA Reid awkwardly grilled her Good Morning Britain co-host Richard Madeley today over an interview he once did with Russell Brand. GMB presenter Richard appeared to make a barbed comment when appearing briefly in the new documentary which accused Brand of rape and sexual assaults he denies. Richard seemed surprised when reminded of the interview […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n