Russell Brand V The Sun: The New Era Fourth Estate
Residents from the New Era estate in east London, originally built as affordable housing for local workers, pose for photographs with their supporter British comedian Russell Brand, right, just before handing a petition into 10 Downing Street, Monday, Dec. 1, 2014.
Russell Brand is to sue the Sun. He’s done it before. He’s a comedian. You need to remebrs that as you see the media noise he creates.
In April 2014, Russell Brand has won libel damages from the Sun newspaper. In November 2013, the Sun on Sunday led with a claim that Brand had cheated on girlfriend Jemima Khan with a glamour model.
The Sun settled with Brand out of court. He tweeted:
I got some money suing The S*n who lied about me. I am making a donation to the #JFT96 campaign. A tiny piece of justice.
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) April 15, 2014
Jeffrey Smele, appearing for The Sun in the High Court, said:
“Through me the defendant sincerely apologises to the claimant for the distress and embarrassment this article has caused. It accepts that the allegations are untrue and ought never to have been published.”
Brand then wrote for the Sun-hating Guardian:
“Some friends of mine thought it dubious that the Sun’s deceitful story appeared just days after I’d spoken out against the media, corporations and the government. It could be a coincidence. Or it could be that the Sun loves me when I’m a prattling, giggling, Essex boy ‘Shagger of the Year’, when I’m in my proper place, beneath vacuous headlines, herding their flock towards dumb lingo and crap bingo, when I’m being cheeky on MTV or even unwisely invading answerphones, in a way that many would argue, is less offensive than the manner that they are alleged to have done.
“In my place I’m fine, but if I use my glistening podium, to talk to the people I grew up with, or signed on with or used drugs with, vulnerable overlooked, underserved, ordinary people, people that can’t sue them as I am, then out come the fangs.”
The Sun replied:
But the News UK title has hit back at Brand, dropping its pay wall to run a piece entitled; ““20 Reasons why Russell Brand is the biggest hypocrite in Britain”.
The list of accusations stem from his acceptance of the title ‘Shagger of the Year’ from the newspaper for three years in a row, his writing for the newspaper, his work and books being published by Fox owned companies, his topless appearance on the front cover of The Sunday Times Magazine and claims that he has openly admitted to cheating the benefit system and protesting in anti-capitalist marches, despite being worth millions of pound himself.
“Brand famously says one thing and does the opposite,” stated the introduction to the piece.
The New Statesman, which Brand edited once, lapped it up:
The hitjob is yet another reminder that anyone who speaks up in favour of press reform can expect what Kelvin McKenzie allegedly offered John Major – a bucket of shit poured all over them. Previous examples include the Mail’s multipage denunciation of one of the Leveson Inquiry assessors, as well as the paper’s leaking of NS columnist Mehdi Hasan’s job application letter after he criticised the paper on Leveson.
Liek the Sun, the New Statesman once loved Brand.
Compare and contrast The New Statesman’s reporting on Russell Brand.
24 October, 2013, Russell Brand edited an issue of The New Statesman. Helen Lewis, deputy editor of the New Statesman, said:
We’re delighted to be working with someone as entertaining, inquisitive and provocative as Russell Brand on this special issue of the New Statesman. With contributors ranging from Judd Apatow to Naomi Klein, the edition will be witty, intelligent and surprising. I mean, looks-wise, he’s no Ken Livingstone, but you can’t have everything.
Back then, Brand was dating Jemima Khan, the magazine’s associate editor.
That was the freedom loving NS that warned us of a “Kosher conspiracy”. For Brand’s editorship, the New Statesman portrayed him as Jesus at the Last Supper. The magazine of Left wing intellect and debate had revealed how desperate it was to connect with the great unwashed. Brand isn’t a rich, saucy-mouthed wally. He’s the ambulatory Left wing.
Brand is still appearing in the mag.
On 3 November 2014:, the NS wrote of Brand (no longer dating one of its minted chiefs):
Stuff your revolution if it doesn’t include treating women as people If you want radicalism in politics, it has to start with feminism. Russell Brand, clown that he is, is taken seriously by an awful lot of young men who see any criticism of the cartoon messiah’s misogyny as a derail from “the real issues” (whatever they are). The fans claim they love Brand despite the fact that he talks about women as poisoned birds of paradise, sucubus-like vultures or material accoutrements of wealth… The men who love Brand love him because his “revolution” promises with chirpy vagueness to overturn every hierarchy – apart from the hierarchy of men over women, which Brand specifically and concretely reinforces.
It a revolution.
So. To today’s story:
GOBBY millionaire revolutionary Russell Brand is paying a tax-avoiding landlord £76,200 a year for a luxury home — while ranting against sky-high rents and tax dodgers. A Sun investigation discovered the comic’s landlord is based in the British Virgin Islands, where there are virtually no tax laws.
Our probe comes after Brand reacted furiously on Monday when a reporter questioned him about payments on the £1.miilion house — as he took part in a Downing Street protest against grasping landlords…
He was asked: “Part of the problem is the super-rich buying property in London, isn’t it? What kind of rent are you paying?”
Brand, worth an estimated £15million, said angrily: “I’m not interested in talking to you about my rent, mate. You’re a snide.”
And:
On Monday Brand was campaigning in support of residents on the New Era estate, a stone’s throw from his home.
They are protesting following reports that their new US landlords plan to triple their rents.
When asked by Channel 4’s Paraic O’Brien how much his rent was, Brand said: “I’m not interested in talking to you about my rent, mate. I’m here to support a very important campaign. Blessedly, I can afford my rent and I’m prepared to stand up for people that can’t.”..
Brand has repeatedly spoken out about the high cost of living in London and the importance of cracking down on tax-avoiding firms. In his latest book Revolutions, he said: “If they don’t pay tax, we’ll reclaim their assets and give them to the people that work there.”
Last night Brand threatened The Sun over our revelations, tweeting: “I’m gonna sue you.”
Entertaining stuff. This is how journalism works, of course. The paper and the celebrity become the stars of the story until it all about them.
Posted: 3rd, December 2014 | In: Celebrities Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
