The broadcaster has apologised to staff for ‘inadequate’ handling of complaints involving the comedian. Russell Brand co-hosted Comic Relief months after an employee re-filed a decade-old complaint about his behaviour to the BBC. The comedian, 49, was booked for the presenting role in March 2017 after a BBC employee re-raised a complaint they originally made in 2007 about Brand urinating in a cup during recording for his Radio 2 show the year before.

The 2016 complaint was disclosed when the broadcaster apologised to staff on Thursday (30 January) as part of a review into the conduct of Russell Brand during his time with the broadcaster. The actor and comedian denies the accusations, and previously said all his sexual relationships were “absolutely always consensual”. The sole formal complaint flagged in the BBC review was made by an employee to a manager in 2007, after Brand allegedly urinated into a cup and bottle on two occasions while recording his Radio 2 show.

The report notes the BBC appeared to make light of the incident in a press response at the time to The Independent, in which a spokesperson said that “someone has shown him [Brand] where the toilet is”. The report states: “Regrettably, this incident was not taken seriously at this time.”. Per BBC’s complaints director Peter Johnston’s review, the employee raised the complaint a second time to an external workplace culture review in 2013 and subsequently made a third complaint in 2016.

The BBC case manager who handled the claim decided it was “not possible” to investigate the 2007 incident because it would have “required speaking to individuals external to the BBC,” which was not usual practice. The broadcaster apologised to the employee about how their complaint was handled in 2007. Brand was given the Comic Relief presenting slot soon afterwards. As part of the internal review, the BBC also spoke to a woman who alleged that, in 2008, Brand had followed her into a bathroom in the corporation’s Los Angeles bureau and exposed his penis, before joking about the incident on air minutes later.

An informal complaint was made in 2008, followed by a formal complaint in 2019. The review found that the woman - referred to by the pseudonym “Olivia” – had decided not to pursue the matter further in 2008 as she thought she would not be believed. Brand continued to be booked for programmes aired on the BBC after the 2019 complaint. He appeared on an episode of the Joe Wicks Podcast, which was later removed in the wake of the 2023 allegations, per Deadline.