On Sunday, Russell Brand was honoured with a ‘Global Defender of Freedom’ award at a black-tie gala ceremony in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s palatial home in Palm Beach, Florida.
The event was hosted by rabid Christian nationalist General Mike Flynn, who was briefly Trump’s security adviser and now runs America’s Future, a charity which fights to promote ‘American values and traditions’.
Brand, an Essex-born comedian and actor turned podcaster, who’s been accused of multiple sexual assaults, which he has consistently and vehemently denied, certainly wasn’t the only controversial figure in the room. Far from it. In fact, he fitted right in.
There, too, was boxer Mike Tyson, convicted rapist now marijuana farmer, and guitarist Ted Nugent, whose forthright views on transgender people (he doesn’t think they exist) and pro-gun lobby stance (he says it’s wrong to blame them for mass shootings in schools) has seen him effectively cancelled by the music industry.
Organiser Flynn, meanwhile, is best known for advocating the suspension of the American constitution and holding an election under military authority after Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020. Â
He also believes that the pandemic was a ruse to cover up for stealing the election, and that the media is run by a cabal of paedophiles.
Before he arrived at Mar-a-Lago, Brand spent some time ‘hanging out’ with another new close friend: Robert Kennedy Jr, nephew of late President JFK, who is very much part of the gang, and, like Brand, a former heroin addict.
RFK Jr is Trump’s new health secretary and another Covid vaccine sceptic.
Russel Brand, Robert Kennedy Jr and Dr Mehmet Oz made a splash with a photo shared on X
While the convert wears a wetsuit, Brand – ever the showman – wears bright white Y-fronts and a man bun.
Brand now lives in a $1 million rented bungalow in the picture-perfect town of Seaside on Santa Rosa Beach, in Florida, where he moved late last year with his wife, Laura Gallacher
The pair have such a rapport that Brand backed RFK Jr in his abortive bid for the White House last year. And, at the weekend, they were pictured hanging out together, along with a shirtless Dr Mehmet Oz, a former TV doctor who Trump has appointed to oversee Medicare, the US federal health insurance programme for older people. The three men grin while holding – inexplicably – a northern curly tailed lizard.
It’s a truly bizarre image to make any liberal choke on their matcha latte and one that, a few years ago, no one ever could have foreseen happening.
For Brand, once a louche, effete comedian in guyliner, and the darling of Britain’s Left (he even wrote for The Guardian), has reinvented himself utterly as the new pet of the American ultra-Right.
He has become the darling of the powerful set – a cabal of vaccine deniers, conspiracy theorists and controversy-courters, just like him. Indeed, it seems that Brand – who has not faced any criminal charges over alleged historic sexual abuse of four women – has become as much of a red-cap-wearing MAGA as any of them.
Nobody seems to turn a hair about his past in his new world. It’s said he even attended Trump’s inauguration.
God has duly been found: Brand declared himself a born-again Christian on Instagram last year, after he was baptised in the Thames by his friend, the TV survivalist Bear Grylls.
‘My life has changed. Praise Jesus,’ he wrote.
He’s also in the habit of baptising others in the Christian faith. On September 27 last year he shared on Facebook pictures of him baptising a convert in a river and wrote: ‘It may seem a bit soon to be baptising people but the Apostles did it on day one, so here we are.’
At the weekend, Brand and RFK were pictured hanging out together, along with a shirtless Dr Mehmet Oz, a former TV doctor who Trump has appointed to oversee Medicare
Florida is surely the perfect place for Brand as it’s Maga central (pictured in July 2024)Â
On Sunday, Russell Brand was honoured with a ‘Global Defender of Freedom’ award at a black-tie gala ceremony in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago
While the convert wears a wetsuit, Brand – ever the showman – wears bright white Y-fronts and a man bun.
He has since prayed with US Right-wing commentator and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson. Another close ‘mate’ is Jordan Peterson, a loud, Right-wing voice who was kicked off Twitter for a time due to his views on gender identity. It all feels a very long way from home – and indeed it is.
Brand now lives in a $1 million rented bungalow in the picture-perfect town of Seaside on Santa Rosa Beach, in Florida, where he moved late last year with his wife, Laura Gallacher, and their three young children, just before the presidential election.
Announcing the move, Brand said: ‘I don’t live in the United Kingdom any more because I personally have experienced how the media, government and judiciary – if you suddenly become an inconvenience – will find ways to attack and shut you down.’
Laura, 37, sister of TV presenter Kirsty, whom he married in 2017, is said to share her husband’s new religious fervour. Brand recently revealed how the pair take daily communion together, which he described as ‘pretty beautiful and pretty good for our marriage’.
It’s said Laura picked out this part of Florida as her father, the former professional golfer Bernard Gallacher, used to compete in the area when she was growing up, and the family would rent holiday homes during tournaments.
While his visa arrangements are not clear, Florida is surely the perfect place for Brand as it’s Maga central. Trump garnered 79 per cent of the votes in the county in which Seaside sits, compared to Kamala Harris’s 21 per cent in last November’s election.
And his surroundings couldn’t be any prettier, either. Known as the Emerald Coast thanks to the lush gardens which tumble right down to the perfect beaches (dotted with million-dollar homes), Seaside was the setting for the 1998 Jim Carey film The Truman Show.
Brand has prayed with US Right-wing commentator and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson
One close ‘mate’ is Jordan Peterson, a loud, right-wing voice who was kicked off Twitter for a time due to his views on gender identity
As for the locals, they seem delighted with the eccentric, bearded, English newcomer
Laura, 37, sister of TV presenter Kirsty, whom he married in 2017, is said to share her husband’s new religious fervour
As for the locals, they seem delighted with the eccentric, bearded, English newcomer.
‘Americans and especially Christians love a good redemption story,’ one told the Mail this week.
‘Not only is this area heavily Christian, it is heavily MAGA. Trump is worshipped here,’ added the resident. ‘Russell fits in well and people love him.’
Another said: ‘He’s sighted everywhere. I have family and friends that see him at churches, weekend farmer’s markets or near the beach or town square in Seaside. People come up to him and ask for his autograph and take pictures with him, he is approachable.’
A cashier at the Modica market added: ‘He comes in here a lot, often with his wife and kids in tow. People come up and he talks to them. From what I have seen he has been nothing but nice. He comes in, buys candies for his kids and other sundries and leaves. No security, no entourage.’
At the farmers market, a vendor said he was in on Saturday and was chatty ‘just generally being nice and asking me how my day was’.
He reportedly attended the wedding of a couple at The Chapel at Seaside on December 6 last year, after meeting the groomsmen on the beach that morning and getting an invitation.
He regularly dines in one of the local restaurants in town, and was there on Wednesday night. ‘He does not like to be sat in a corner away from everyone,’ said one of the staff. ‘He’s so friendly and he will talk to anyone in the place when he is here.
‘One time he brought a group of 15 people in to eat. The restaurant had a back private room where he could dine in private with his friends, but he refused. Instead, he opted to dine at a table nearer to the front of the restaurant.’
Brand was paid nearly $70,000 to appear at one of Kennedy’s campaign eventsÂ
Brand, 49, is pictured leaving Wembley Park Theatre in November
He hasn’t given up the yoga either and attends classes 15 miles from his stateside home in nearby Miramar Beach. (His devotion to veganism, however, fell by the wayside last November and he has since espoused the joys of a juicy steak on his social media musings.) He is also a regular attendee at the Good News Church in Santa Rosa Beach, where he aspires to be ‘more like Jesus’.
Once known for his sordid sexual adventures – and for making a career out of talking about them in public – Brand’s main business nowadays is putting out videos on the social media platform Rumble, including an interview series called ‘Breaking Bread’ and another called ‘Awakened Wonders’.
In the UK, these used to be produced in a former pub in Berkshire, but now he has a new team in the US dedicated to the venture.
Along with his Christianity, and conspiracy-heavy views, what the shows have amassed for Brand is influence. He has 11.3 million followers on X and more than two million subscribers on Rumble, some of whom pay £7.75 a month for exclusive content. On Wednesday he shared a video ‘Live from Mar-a-Lago’.
And it seems to be paying dividends: accounts newly submitted to Companies House show his business assets grew by £3.2 million in the 12 months to December 2023.
His company, Pablo Diablo’s Legitimate Business Firm Limited, is now sitting on assets of more than £8 million.
The period of the accounts covers the time when Channel 4’s Despatches and The Sunday Times aired a string of serious allegations about his past sexual conduct. He has been interviewed under caution three times since the bombshell investigation was broadcast in September 2023, in which four women made allegations of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse.
The allegations spanned 2006 to 2013, when Brand was at the height of his fame and working as a presenter at BBC Radio 2 and for Channel 4, and then as an actor in Hollywood. Brand has denied any wrongdoing, saying his sexual relationships were ‘absolutely always consensual’.
His former employers, including the BBC, have since started inquiries into his conduct.
The actor, pictured at the launch of Meditation in Education in Los Angeles in 2013, has strenuously denied the allegations
Brand was accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse as part of a joint investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, The Times and Sunday Times in 2023
Last month, in a damning report, the BBC apologised for its handling of complaints, found ‘specific management failings’ because of Brand’s perceived close relationship with Lesley Douglas, then controller of Radio 2, and said of Brand’s on-air conduct: ‘It is striking how often the compliance forms for the pre-recorded shows simply recorded behaviour which should have been addressed.’
In November, Metropolitan Police detectives passed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, who have not said whether he will be charged.
Of course with Brand now happily ensconced in Florida, with the President of the United States a close friend, it could mean long extradition proceedings if he ever does get charged.
And Brand seems quite happy to wait it out there. In a recent video, against a backdrop of the azure ocean, he spoke lovingly of his new home: ‘It’s like being in Disneyland, it’s extraordinary. It’s over-stimulating,’ he said, before adding: ‘There are secret service everywhere, for obvious reasons…’
Of Florida’s most famous resident, he says: ‘At the moment I hear he’s out playing golf… You can’t deny that this is a fascinating man at a fascinating time.’
He then switches to a soliloquy about ‘big pharma’ conspiracies, Trump’s efforts to broker peace in Ukraine, and vaccines.
At a recent gala dinner for America’s Future, he was at Mar-a-Lago and seated next to Mel Gibson, one of Trump’s ‘Special Ambassadors’ to Hollywood, who told Brand in a stage whisper about his house burning down in the LA fires. Brand seemed giddy with the access to Hollywood royalty and gushed about the event on X, formerly Twitter.
It’s all rather ironic. He never quite made it as an actor: while his 2008 rom-com Forgetting Sarah Marshall was a hit, subsequent ventures never hit the spot, as there wasn’t much appetite for his posturing and nasal whinny.
But now Brand is embedded with Trump’s new ruling elite in Florida, it turns out he’s found his way onto the A-list at last.
- Additional reporting:Â Alan Butterfield in Florida.
