Celebrity Traitors star Joanne McNally has praised Katherine Ryan for warning about Russell Brand’s ‘predatory’ behaviour years before his jail sentence for rape and sexual assault
Joanne McNally has praised Katherine Ryan for raising the alarm over convicted rapist Russell Brand’s predatory behaviour – years before he was sentenced for his crimes. At the beginning of the week, Brand, 51, was sentenced to ten years and six months in prison after being found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
In the aftermath of his conviction, more women have stepped forward to make allegations about the disgraced comedian. However, years before the events of the last week, Canadian comedian Katherine, 43, branded Brand a “sexual predator” to his face when they worked together on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle in 2018.
The Canadian star reportedly made her comments about Brand during the show’s tapings, but they were cut from the final edit. Brand was said to be furious at the time – and later quit the show after six episodes.
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Irish comedian and recent Celebrity Traitors star Joanne, 43, has now championed Katherine for speaking up and raising the alarm in the past. Speaking on her My Therapist Ghosted Me podcast, which she co-hosts with Vogue Williams, the BBC star branded Katherine a “hero amongst women.”
Joanne said: “What I will say is our hero amongst women, Katherine Ryan. She called him out as much as she possibly could. She certainly did her very best to flag, point the finger, make people aware who wouldn’t have been aware, who maybe weren’t in the industry.”
Vogue, 41, added: “Katherine Ryan is so sound, she was doing all that stuff when like she was trying not to get herself in hot legal water as well while also actually like saying who it was.”
And Joanne then added: “I have all the love and respect for Katherine Ryan.” In 2022, Katherine sparked speculation when she warned in an interview with Louis Theroux that there was a predatory male comedian within the entertainment industry – adding that it was an “open secret” who it was.
While she said she could not name the man in a broadcast interview, she added that she had called the man a predator “to his face” – leading some to suggest she was talking about Brand.
Katherine has returned to the subject this week in light of Brand’s conviction, saying in her own podcast, Telling Everybody Everything: “It really made me feel quite dysregulated again, caught off guard, emotional and in awe of the survivors, who also had nothing to gain. They came forward despite Russell Brand having fame, power, money and a legion of fans ready to attack them.”
She added: “I will never be someone who, like, dances on graves. There has been some justice done today. There’s a level of relief, but there’s grief alongside relief.
“Everything’s nuanced, and it was proved in court that a terrible thing happened, and that means that a terrible thing happened. I just think again and again about people who have been hurt, and who have to carry that, who’ve carried that around long enough, and will continue to carry that in some way, regardless of what justice is done.”
She continued: “This verdict came because women were hurt, and I worry as well about what happens next. Because he’s obviously spent a long time cultivating this idea that the establishment have invented these claims against him, and he’s martyred himself to a growing audience who really still think that it is the courageous survivors who are the villains in this story.
“I just… I don’t know if you can podcast from jail. I hope not.” She added: “Today there are a lot of women speaking, like the way we always do, privately and quietly, the way we’ve learned to do, to avoid being attacked and to keep each other safe, and a lot of those women feel a very nuanced mix of emotions today.”
If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
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