Banijay Launches “Urgent Internal Investigation” Into Russell Brand ‘Big Brother’ Spin-Off Allegations

deadline.com:

Big Brother producer Banijay has launched an “urgent internal investigation” into historic allegations against Russell Brand.

Some of the allegations against Brand published by The Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4 in the past 24 hours were said to have happened during the making of Big Brother’s Big Mouth and Big Brother’s EFourum, which were made by Endemol – subsequently bought by Banijay – in the mid-noughties.

Following publication of the allegations, which have dominated headlines today and rocked the entertainment world, Channel 4 asked Banijay to investigate historical allegations that Brand behaved inappropriately while presenting the Big Brother spin-offs.

Banijay UK said: “In light of the very serious allegations raised by [Channel 4’s] Dispatches and The Times / Sunday Times investigation relating to the alleged serious misconduct of Russell Brand while presenting shows produced by Endemol in 2004 and 2005, Banijay UK has launched an urgent internal investigation and will cooperate with any requests for information from broadcast partners and external agencies. “We also encourage anybody who feels that they were affected by Brand’s behaviour while working on these productions to contact us in confidence.” Prior to the probe launch, Banijay apologized for Endemol’s procedures at the time of the concerns, but said it now has “robust welfare procedures and policies in place,” including a whistleblowing line and dedicated HR contacts.