In the latest episode of her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, the Canadian comic – who worked with Brand on the first season of Roast Battle UK – reacted to the verdict, admitting that she felt “quite dysregulated again”, “caught off-guard”, “emotional” and “in awe of the survivors” who she noted “had nothing to gain” from coming forward.
“They came forward despite Russell Brand having fame, power, money, and a legion of fans ready to attack them,” she pointed out.
“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,” Ryan continued. “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. [People] who’ve carried that around long enough, and will continue to carry that in some way, regardless of what justice is done.”
Back in September 2023, Deadline reported that Ryan had previously branded Brand a “predator” to his face while they were working on Roast Battle UK.
While Ryan has never confirmed this to be true, she previously described a similar incident – without mentioning any names explicitly – during an interview with Louis Theroux a year earlier.
“I informed him to his face that he was a predator,” she recalled. “[By the term ‘predator’], I think I mean a perpetrator of sexual assault.
“But, it is very dangerous for us to have this conversation. I’m happy to have it, but it is a litigious minefield, because lots of people have tried to nail this person for their alleged crimes, and this person has very good lawyers.”
She noted of the unnamed comic: “It’s not really my story to tell. No one has perpetrated any sexual assaults against me. But this person, I believe very strongly – and so do a lot of people, as an open secret – is a perpetrator of sexual assault.
“And I, in front of loads of people, in the format of the show, said to this person’s face that they were a predator. Again and again.”
While she said the incident was not kept in the edit, she noted: “It’s fine. I still got paid and I still did my job. But I did it in my way, [and in a way] that I felt was fair.”
Once allegations against Brand were first made public in 2023, Ryan requested on her podcast that she be left out of the discourse.
She told her listeners: “When a woman says ‘no I don’t want to engage in that conversation and I have no comment on that story, no I won’t be confirming or denying or participating about anything in the news right now’, her consent is not valid.”
“Why is my consent totally unimportant when we are speaking a lot in the press right now speaking about the importance of consent? No is a full sentence, ladies, gentlemen. No,” she added.
On Thursday afternoon, Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and a further three counts of sexual assault, having previously pleaded not guilty to all of the allegations made against him.
Brand is now in police custody, and will be sentenced on Monday. The judge overseeing the Brand trial has indicated that the comedian will receive a prison sentence.
Help and support:
- Rape Crisis services for women and girls who have been raped or have experienced sexual violence – 0808 802 9999
- Survivors UK offers support for men and boys – 0203 598 3898
