How Russell Brand ditched his mockney geezer schtick and reinvented himself as a clickbait conspiracy theorist
HAVING seen his Hollywood career flop and TV work dry up, Russell Brand has seemingly reinvented himself as a YouTube conspiracy theorist.
The stand-up comedian’s controversial views on the world’s biggest news events have pulled in 5.4million subscribers to his channels — and drawn comparisons to outspoken former footballer David Icke, who believed Earth had been hijacked by shape-shifting reptilians.
Brand’s daily videos, which attract around a million views, have so far questioned vaccines, blamed the US for the war in Ukraine and claimed the Eastern Europe nation’s 2014 pro-EU revolution was driven by “neo-Nazis”
Essex-born Brand, 46, welcomes his audience — who he calls “shimmering souls” — to “a journey of awakening together”, to “create new narratives”.
These include comparing Canada’s liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to China’s dictator Xi Jinping, because of the country’s strict Covid-19 restrictions, and suggesting vaccines are part of a plot to impose “digital IDs” on the global population.
This week he boasted in an interview that “a friend of mine, who is also married into the Royal Family, said that other than the Queen of England, I was the most English person she knew.”
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Meghan Markle — who starred with Brand in 2010 movie Get Him To The Greek and married Prince Harry four years ago — has condemned what she sees as misinformation about coronavirus jabs, so may want to reconsider their friendship.
It is a remarkable political rebrand for the married father of two, who once backed mild-mannered Ed Miliband’s bid to become a Labour Prime Minister in 2015.
Among his clickbait titles are They WANT War (And They’re Not Russian), You’ve Been LIED To About Why Ukraine War Began and They Planned It All Along.
In the 15-minute online “discussions”, meditation-lover Brand shouts, arms outstretched, and jabs wildly towards the screen.
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He repeatedly states that he’s not a “conspiracy theorist” but suggests a mysterious world order is conspiring to keep the truth from us.
Brand, whose two-year marriage to singer Katy Perry ended in 2012, told this week’s Big Issue mag that the answer to the world’s problems was greater democracy.
He says: “I feel we need to bring spirituality to the forefront of our politics.
“What I mean by spirituality is what I call Sesame Street values — kindness, service, community.”
Those on the receiving end of his criticism might not see it that way.
Strident anti-capitalist Brand, reportedly worth £10million, does not charge subscribers to his channel.
But tickets to his current political stage tour are £33 and he sells Stay Free T-shirts for £25.99.
And revenue from adverts on crypto-currency and debt advice that appear on his video clips help to fund the digital platform.
I feel we need to bring spirituality to the forefront of our politics.
Russell Brand
Brand needs to be careful he does not become part of a disturbing trend for influencers to get rich by giving free rein to vaccine sceptics.
Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, told The Sun: “It is very clear that vaccine misinformation has been allowed to flow unabated on social media for a long time. It has created this sense that it is an acceptable way to make a living.”
Spotify was boycotted by a number of musicians after medics criticised podcaster Joe Rogan, who earns £75million from the streaming service, for allowing anti-vaxxers to talk on his show without any kind of balance.
Brand has also been controversial.
In an episode this month called They Planned It All Along, he invited conspiracy theorist Nick Corbishley to talk at length.
The author of Scanned: Why Vaccine Passports And Digital IDs Will Mean The End Of Privacy And Personal Freedom claims the World Economic Forum (WEF) discussed using mass inoculations to help track the population.
Brand, who appeared in 2008 movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Death On The Nile this year, asked his followers: “Did you know the WEF were talking about digital IDs way back in 2016, four years before the pandemic?"
A number of attempts have been made to link vaccines, Microsoft and mass microchipping of humans — a theory that has been debunked by leading experts.
Brand pursues the idea in another post.
He also apparently has a problem with our Government’s plan to offer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to over-75s and clinically vulnerable.
Brand, who admits he’s “not qualified” to judge whether people should or should not have a jab, repeatedly suggests that the motivation is boosting the profits of vaccine producer Pfizer.
In his episode You’re Not Going To Like This, he says: “The CEO of Pfizer suggested that a fourth vaccine booster shot might be necessary, you know, for everyone’s immunity and our good health — and not because it’s the most profitable medicine in history, right?”
How did a US-backed, far right–led revolution in Ukraine help bring us to the situation we find ourselves in today with regard to the Russian invasion?
Russell Brand
He went on to repeat a claim also made by anti-vaxxers that our immune systems are being compromised by repeated doses.
That is despite many academics stating booster jabs greatly reduce the risk of death from coronavirus.
And the UK Health Security Agency data suggested a third vaccine had provided 88 per cent effectiveness against hospitalisation from the Omicron variant.
Brand insists he is not an anti-vaxxer and is simply airing alternative perspectives.
In The Truth Is Coming Out he claims US authorities are trying to “hide” the “truth about vaccine” effectiveness, even though Pfizer has published its own data.
In the past month Brand has switched his focus to the war in Ukraine.
He is vexed that the mainstream news, such as the BBC or ITV, blame Russian president Vladimir Putin for invading his neighbour.
Rather than apparently trusting what the journalists on the ground in Ukraine are reporting, such as Russian missiles demolishing hospitals, Brand is reciting extracts from articles by US-based writers.
Brand, who lives in a £4million home in Henley, Oxon, asked: “How did a US-backed, far right–led revolution in Ukraine help bring us to the situation we find ourselves in today with regard to the Russian invasion?”
Even if unintentional, this parrots the Kremlin’s justification for its illegal invasion.
Putin has claimed he sent in troops to remove Ukraine’s “neo-Nazi government”.
But the far right Azov group achieved just two per cent of the vote in the country’s most recent elections and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
While it is true that some far right activists did want to depose Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, the revolution was overwhelmingly led by liberal, pro-European organisations.
It followed the imprisonment of Yanukovych’s main opponent and his sudden decision not to sign a political agreement with the EU.
When Russia illegally annexed Crimea later that year, the Ukrainian government bolstered its military force to deter further attempts by its neighbour to occupy territory.
Yet in an episode titled You’ve Been LIED To About Why Ukraine War Began, Brand calls militarisation of Ukraine a “hostile encroachment on Russian sovereignty”.
Did you know the WEF were talking about digital IDs way back in 2016, four years before the pandemic?
Russell Brand
In the comedian’s mind we should apparently be pointing the finger of blame at America’s President, even though Joe Biden has resisted calls to take military action against Russia.
According to Brand, the US and its Allies might be siding with Ukraine’s democratically elected president because they want to grab his country’s resources.
But in the Big Issue this week, Brand says: “The truth is, I don’t know anything.”
Some would argue that is not how it comes across in his YouTube sermons.
His new online venture is a world away from his party-loving past. But there have long been signs that Brand, who wrote an autobiography in 2007 delving into his rampant desire for sex and drugs, had a fascination with oddball ideas.
He admitted that “as a 15-year-old” he thought “this is alright” when sports pundit-turned-conspiracy theorist David Icke gave a bizarre interview to Terry Wogan in which he claimed to be the Son of the Godhead.
And Brand has given airtime to Icke, interviewing him twice for his BBC Radio 2 show in 2008.
His stalled bid for stardom, following the flop remake of Arthur in 2011, hasn’t stopped him gaining new fans on the other side of the Atlantic.
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Many followers who post positive replies are from the US.
While Brand might tell his listeners not to believe everything he says, because “I’m just a bloke out of Sarah Marshall”, a dangerous number of them appear to believe him anyway.
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THERE are plenty of conspiracy theorists about. Here are some of the most famous . . .
ALEX JONES: The US radio talk show host is banned from YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
One of his false theories is that the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers was an inside job by the US government.
DAVID ICKE: The former BBC sports presenter and Coventry City youth goalie believes the Royal Family are shape-shifting lizards.
He has also been described as an antisemite and tells his fans the pandemic is a hoax.
PIERS CORBYN: Jeremy Corbyn’s older brother thinks Microsoft founder Bill Gates has a “depopulation agenda”.
The meteorologist is also a climate change denier and was arrested in December on suspicion of encouraging people to attack the offices of MPs who supported further Covid-19 restrictions.
MARK SARGENT: The US flat earther believes world governments are covering up the truth – that we live on a flat disc covered by a dome.
OLIVER STONE: The Oscar-winning director believes attempts to hide the truth about the assassination of US President John F Kennedy are “conspiracy fact.”
He rejects the official version of events – that Communist sympathiser Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots at Kennedy in 1963.
