‘Russell, no’: Star’s uncomfortable chat show stunt resurfaces

Comedian Russell Brand didn’t hide his interest in a fellow guest during this 2013 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Comedian Russell Brand didn’t hide his interest in a fellow guest during this 2013 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

The clip has resurfaced in the wake of a bombshell report that saw Brand accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse in a period between 2006 and 2013.

In the talk show appearance, Brand is joined on the talk show by singer and actress Katharine McPhee, who he immediately grabs by the hand.

As host Fallon explains the show’s etiquette – when a new guest joins, the previous guest moves down one chair – Brand says: “Katharine is welcome to sit here!” and pulls her onto his lap.

Katharine McPhee sits down – but Brand wants her closer.

“Don’t do this! Trust me, don’t do this,” Fallon advises his new guest, as she plays along good-naturedly.

But McPhee’s smile turns to an expression of horror as Brand grabs her by the hips and starts to bounce her on his lap.

She quickly leaps up, and motions for him to move down one seat, as she mouths the words “Move. Away.”

“I’ll just be here … with my sexual charisma,” Brand tells her.

“Oh my gosh, this is all too much for just my first 30 seconds,” McPhee says.

A couple of minutes into the interview, as McPhee relays an anecdote about her recent experience at the Super Bowl, Brand interjects: “As you know, I’ve announced it, I find Katharine very attractive and I think when she said ‘exchange numbers,’ I thought of things I’d like to exchange with her. Numbers. And genes. Genetic info. Data.”

“What is happening right now?” McPhee asks the host, who tells her “don’t worry about it.”

McPhee then makes a point of mentioning her husband in Brand’s direction, who tells her she could “drop that guy any day.”

McPhee squirms as Brand grips her by the hips.

“Russell, no!” Fallon tells him.

“Now I know you’re married, I’m gonna f**k off now,” Brand says, leaving the set. “Good luck with your marriage!”

The clip is one of a number of interviews and talk show appearances that have resurfaced after the star faced accusations of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse from multiple women in a detailed report published over the weekend.

Brand “absolutely” denied all allegations in a video posted to social media.

“These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” he said.

“Now during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then … and to see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question, is there another agenda at play?”

London’s Metropolitan Police today confirmed they have received a report of an alleged sexual assault following the allegations against Brand.