Ed Miliband ‘deeply regrets’ Russell Brand interview after disgraced comic jailed
Ed Miliband has said he deeply regrets appearing on Russell Brand’s web show during his 2015 leadership campaign, after the comedian was jailed for rape and sexual assault offences.
Russell Brand was was jailed for 10 and a half years on Monday(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Ed Miliband has said he deeply regrets appearing on Russell Brand’s web show during his 2015 leadership campaign.
The former Labour leader was interviewed by Brand in a video filmed at the TV personality’s flat for his online series The Trews, in a bid to win over younger voters as he battled to become PM.
Brand, 51, was jailed for 10 and a half years on Monday for raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers during his rise to international fame.
The Foreign Secretary has now expressed regret for participating in the show, and branded the convicted rapist’s actions “horrifying”.
He told Channel 4: “What Russell Brand did was horrifying. It was horrifying, and all of my sympathies are with the victims of Russell Brand. And of course, there are further allegations about him as well as the crimes he’s been convicted of.
“If I had known then what has come to light, I would, as I’ve said before, never have done that interview. And as I’ve also said before, I deeply regret doing it.”
It comes just days after the Education Secretary Lucy Powell urged women to “come forward” and defended the interview as being in a “different era”.
She said:“It was a long time ago, obviously and had I or Ed Miliband or anybody at the time had any sense at all that this was someone who was a sexual predator, who was involved in these sorts of crimes.
“I think like anybody who would have paid to go to his show, would have watched him on TV, who was his employer at the time, who had interactions with him – anybody, including those of us who were involved in that at the time – would look back and really regret that, knowing today what we now know.
“If there was any suggestion at all, we were dealing with someone who was a known sexual predator at the time then, of course, no one would have done that.
“But as I say, he was a well-known public figure. Lots of people, from Hollywood to the BBC to many others, gave this person a very, very powerful platform. We didn’t know at the time and unfortunately, maybe had people come forward or felt able to… it was a different era.”
