Russell Brand was sentenced in Southwark Crown Court in London yesterday to the sound of laughter and the smell of strawberry vapor. Not in Courtroom 1, of course, where the actual proceedings were happening soberly among lawyers, credentialed journalists, Brand, his family and victims, but in Courtroom 16, where the unwelcome public were kettled and watching him on television. The man who sat to my right wolf-whistled when Mr. Justice Bennathan called Brand “a sexual predator,” sniggered when he detailed the rape Brand committed, and toked an e-cigarette throughout the remarks. He even recorded bits of the sentencing on his phone, before eventually being dragged out of the room by security.
Apparently intelligent individuals were entranced by Brand’s “flawless” way of speaking. In fact, all he did was say dull things quickly
Courtroom 16 was a frenzy of these unusual people. Bregt, a Swedish cleaner and a Christian, had taken the day off work to “reach out” to Brand’s family with the message of God. (Romans 8:28, specifically.) Another man had brought eight copies of the morning’s Metro with him, and spent lots of the day complaining about a loose paving stone in the court’s outside foyer. The vaping guy, I think, was a fan of Brand’s. He came to court dressed as the defendant used to: in skinny leather trousers and a shirt, and adorned in fat gold jewelry. Together with probably 30 others, we watched the last day of Brand’s case.
Why did people ever watch Brand? What was his appeal? Finally, these questions are being asked. Brand is not funny. He is not talented. Apparently intelligent individuals thought he was “entertaining, inquisitive and provocative.” They were entranced by his “flawless” way of speaking. In fact, all he did was say dull things quickly. It came without hesitation because it required no thought. Brand was a bore, intellectually and sexually. How could you see him any other way? He told you who he was, and then told you that he’d told you. “What kind of man was I? Treating women in this way?” he wrote in his second memoir, Booky Wook 2. “If this is what I’m telling you, can you imagine what’s being left out?” “I’m a rapist!!!!” he almost said.
The temptation is to make Brand the face of Britain’s rapey noughties. Last week, the BBC ran a piece headlined “How 2000s lad culture helped Russell Brand to hide in plain sight,” as if situations of this kind are a product of the past. But the miserable, true conclusion is that society is trending towards vulgarity. Brand became so famous because of, not despite, his grossness. Expect more men like him. Today’s culture is more sexual than the “laddy” 2000s. We got rid of Page Three in 2015, decided that public objectification was disgusting, and replaced it with a sexual culture which is far more extreme: see Bonnie Blue; see the podcast Plug Talk.
Brand’s minders and colleagues were even more willing than the public to accept Brand’s vileness. They saw it in person. During sentencing, Mr. Justice Bennathan accepted that Brand’s entourage watched, and one of them laughed, as Brand pushed a woman against a wall, kissed her, and groped her breasts and bottom. While Harvey Weinstein got away with his sex crimes because he was an important filmmaker, and Jimmy Savile commanded authority in broadcasting and politics, Brand wasn’t powerful. He couldn’t make or end careers. He was the presenter of Big Brother’s Big Mouth and host of the MTV Video Music Awards. He was famous. That’s all. In the judge’s remarks yesterday: “The whole episode reeks of casual disrespect and your belief that fame meant you could act how you liked, when you liked, unhindered by the rules by which decent people live.”
Write-ups of Brand’s time in court say that he showed “no emotion.” They describe the stillness of the court air, and comment how plainly the facts were discussed. They make the justice sound cold, when really it was tempestuous and vulgar. Like fame, and like Brand himself. After sentencing, he was raced out of Southwark Crown Court in a Serco van. Paparazzi slammed their cameras against its windows for a photo, and his father walked the other way. “Victims? What victims?” he said with disgust to an interviewer. Brand’s last loyalists stood outside of the court, meanwhile, and screamed: “THE WORLD IS NOT SAFER WITH RUSSELL BEHIND BARS! IT WAS SAFER WITH HIM HERE!” He was sentenced to ten years and six months in prison.
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