“What Led To That Being On Air?”: BBC Director General Questions “Unacceptable” Russell Brand Shows From 15 Years Ago & Sets Out Terms Of “Swift” Review

deadline.com:

“What led to that being on air?,” questioned Director General Tim Davie of Russell Brand’s old BBC broadcasts today, as he set out the scope of the review into Brand, which should report back in “weeks not months.” Addressing the allegations in an all-staff Q&A this afternoon, Davie said Peter Johnston, Director of Editorial Complaints and Reviews, will oversee the report. “We’ll look at any complaints made about Russell Brand’s conduct during his time, what was known at the time, what was done – so full transparency, we’re digging into anything that we’ve got there,” he added. “I’m hoping for an initial report in weeks, not months.

So this is not something we want to take too long [over], but we do want to get to the facts.” Brand presented shows on BBC Radio 6 Music and Radio 2 between 2006 and 2008 before he was sacked after prank-calling Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs.

At the time, Davie ran the corporation’s radio coverage. Over the weekend, Brand was accused by four women of allegations ranging from rape to sexual assault and the BBC, Channel 4 and Big Brother producer Banijay are all investigating, while shows featuring Brand have been removed from the BBC and Channel 4’s VoD players.

Brand vehemently denies the claims and has said all of his relationships were consensual. He has not commented since publishing a video across his social media channels in which he preemptively denied the “litany” of allegations about his criminal behavior.