Lily Allen has reflected on “horrendous” lewd jokes made at her expense by Jonathan Ross, Noel Fielding and Russell Brand on a Channel 4 panel show.
The singer-turned-actor was discussing a past appearance on annual comedy series The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, which went viral after rape allegations surfaced against Brand in September.
At the start of the 2007 episode of the series, Ross moved Allen, whom he called “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.”
To this, Great British Bake Off co-host Fielding replied: “How dare you – we’re not rapists.”
Jimmy Carr stepped in to ask Fielding why he was wearing a cape “if [he] wasn’t a rapist”, with Fielding pointing out that the cape he was wearing was, in fact, a Jack the Ripper cape. Fielding said: “He wasn’t a rapist, he was a...” Here, Russell Brand interjected to say: “Serial murderer”
He added: “There is no direct corollary between rapes and capes, it’s just a rhyme.”
A clip of the interaction circulated on X/Twitter in the wake of numerous rape allegations against Brand, and Allen has spoken about it in a new interview with Grazia UK.
She said: “[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.
“It makes me uncomfortable, but I don’t think I felt that at the time, because it was the culture.”
Lily Allen— (Getty Images for Hennessy X.O)
The Independent has contacted reps for Ross, Fielding and Brand for comment.
In September, a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches revealed that Brand faces four accusations of sexual assault, one of which includes rape.
In the wake of these allegations, historic interviews and media appearances featuring the comedian resurfaced and were shared online. One such interview was conducted by Piers Morgan in 2006, who asked Brand: “Are you a more successful sexual predator now you don’t drink?”
Explaining his reasoning behind the question, Morgan said on Uncensored: ”I asked for reasons I’m not entirely sure other than it must have been jocular at the time.”
Morgan noted that, while the interview occurred in the same year that Brand allegedly had a secret relationship with a 16-year-old, he had no knowledge of any assault allegations and “meant it as a joke”.
He went on to say: “I didn’t have any information about him actually being a sexual predator.”
Lily Allen on ‘Big Fat Quiz of the year’ with Jonathan Ross— (YouTube)
Morgan revealed Brand’s response to his question, in which he said: “Yes, but I resent the word ‘predator’.”
Brand continued: “I like to think of myself as a conduit of natural forces. After all, the most natural thing in the world for people to do is f***, isn’t it? And people want to do it, so all you have to do is remove all the reasons why women don’t actually go through with it, like pride and reputation...
“You just have to unpick the conditions stopping women going straight to bed with you.”
The alleged assaults Brand has been accused of are claimed to have occurred between 2006 and 2013 when the comedian was a presenter for both BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4. Brand has denied all accusations and says all of his relationships have been consensual.
Since the Dispatches documentary aired, the BBC and Channel 4 have launched internal investigations into the allegations levelled at Brand.
Russell Brand— (PA Media)
Shows with appearances from Brand, including Big Brother’s Big Mouth and The Great British Bake Off, have been removed from Channel 4’s website.
The BBC has also removed footage of Brand, while YouTube has suspended adverts on his videos, meaning that he cannot make money from the site. He is still able to post videos to the platform.
