***Warning: this article discusses sexual abuse and rape.***
Richard Madeley has spoken out after releasing he features in the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary surrounding allegations made against Russell Brand.
Four women have made allegations against Brand pertaining to a period between 2006 and 2013, whilst he was employed by the BBC, Channel 4, and acting in Hollywood films.
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One of the alleged victims was just 16-years-old at the time.
Most of the women making the allegations against Brand have chosen to remain anonymous, but one accused the comedian and YouTuber of raping her at his Los Angeles home, before she reportedly visited a rape crisis centre that same day.
Brand released a statement denying any wrongdoing ahead of the publication of an article featuring joint investigation by Channel 4 show Dispatches, The Sunday Times and The Times.
Channel 4 premiered Russell Brand: In Plain Sight: Dispatches on Saturday (16 September) night, something that was obviously a hot topic of conversation on this morning's Good Morning Britain.
During a discussion with guests Andrew Pierce and Kevin Maguire, co-host Susanna Reid brought up the fact Madeley was shown in the Channel 4 doc alongside his wife, Judy Finnigan.
In a short clip, the pair interviewed Brand, something that appeared to have took place several years ago. Nonetheless, Madeley was visibly shocked to discover he featured in the documentary.
"There’s a clip where you and Judy are interviewing Russell Brand," Reid said, to which Madeley responded: "Is there? In the documentary?"
Reid then continued: "There’s a sort of you know… he’s written a book and he’s doing publicity for it, and Judy sort of raises an eyebrow and says, 'Ooh yeah, you’re all innocent Russell Brand, the way you behave', and you say, 'Mm, butter wouldn’t melt'.
"It was almost as you were watching, I was thinking, did you say that in a way that you kind of knew his reputation, or was there anything more to that do you think?"
Madeley responded by stressing he hadn't heard anything about any allegations surrounding Brand at the time.
"Never heard that," he said. "If I had, we would have had to deal with that in an interview. However, as he himself has said in his statement, which he issued prior to the documentary going out, he had a terrible reputation as a womaniser, to use an old-fashioned word.
"His reputation was – and I won’t use the four letter word beginning with S and ending with, with R – but that’s what he was known as. But I never heard allegations that he was anything other than a consensual operator in that field."
The GMB presenter concluded: "But yes – he was an operator. And where there was an opportunity sexually, he would chase it up. And he says that himself, he was hugely promiscuous. But I have to say, I worked at Channel 4 at the time, I actually never heard specific allegations that he was breaking the law."
Topics: Russell Brand, Richard Madeley, TV and Film, Good Morning Britain
Callum Jones