A woman who claimed she was groomed into a relationship by Russell Brand when she was just 16 has branded his response to the allegations "insulting".
Russell Brand's excuser branded his response laughable
The 48-year-old comedian has been accused of raping, sexually assaulting and emotionally abusing four women at the height of his career in a bombshell expose from The Times, Sunday Times and Channel4's 'Dispatches' programme, and one of the quartet, who is known only as 'Alice', has hit out at the 'Get Him to the Greek' star after he suggested the allegations were part of a “serious, concerted agenda” to control “spaces” such as his YouTube channel.
She told BBC Radio 4's 'Women's Hour': "I think it is insulting.
"It is laughable that he would even imply that it's a mainstream media conspiracy. He's not outside of mainstream media."
The woman went on to suggest Brand had deliberately "built himself an audience" that would distrust any such allegations.
She added: "I think he was building himself an audience for years that would then have great distrust of any publication that came forward with allegations. He knew it was coming for a long time."
And Alice was unsurprised the former 'Big Brother's Big Mouth' host had denied all the allegations and insisted the relationships were all consensual.
She noted: "What he didn't deny was that he had a relationship with a 16 year old."
Alice claimed Brand's management advised them not to be seen in public together and said people told him to say she was his niece or goddaughter.
The woman has called for the age of consent to be raised to 18.
She said: "I’m 16 years old so I need to definitely to go to school. I need to go to after-school activities. I need to see my friends, within those times that I would sneak off and see him.
"Russell groomed me, he coached me on what to say to my parents.
"He told me to save his number in my phone in a different name. I think we should at least start to think about changing the ideas of consent, because the individuals between the ages of 16 and 18 can have relations with people within that same age."
Alice - who said she felt "dirtied" and "cheap" as a result of the allegedly abusive relationship - hit out at the BBC for not doing more to protect her, claiming one of the network's cars was used to take her from school to Brand's house.
She said: "He had a very well known record of doing things that were inappropriate on the air, he had inappropriate conversations.
"There were exceptions and allowances made for him and we need to ask ourselves why."
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