Echo commentary on the allegations against Russell Brand

Brand was at the height of his fame in the two years from 2006, when he had a show on Radio 2 in which he laughed about getting Jimmy Saville a naked girl and made fun of the mistreatment of a newsreader. It ended in 2008 when he played his lewd prank call on actor Andrew Sachs.

Comedian Jonathan Ross was in on the prank, and you can see him laughing uproariously alongside Brand, just as much of the media was laughing with him at the time, because by going beyond conventional boundaries and always saying “yes” to excess, he garnered huge ratings achieved. His fans also laughed along, even though he joked on stage about choking or even raping women while watching their mascara run.

But then and now, society has rightly decided that the power some men have exercised over women is no laughing matter. This year alone we have seen this expressed through MeToo among bankers, surgeons and a corporate group, as well as the police and the media.

However, does this mean that this abuse of power has actually come to an end?

The BBC is now being blasted by its opponents for giving Brand – who certainly has messianic charisma and a clever use of words – a platform 20 years ago; You should also ask yourself whether YouTube should give him the opportunity, in the here and now, to preach to his 6.5 million followers who, despite everything they’ve seen and heard, still haven’t seen through him.