Comedian Katherine Ryan has spoken out after Russell Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault, saying that she is experiencing both “grief and relief”.
Brand, an actor, comedian and podcaster, is facing years behind bars after being found guilty on Thursday of one rape and three sexual assaults.
Ryan previously claimed in a 2022 interview with Louis Theroux that there was a “predator” in the entertainment industry – comments that many interpreted as being about Brand.
She added that she could not name the male comic as it would be a “litigious minefield”.
She mentioned that she had been on a TV programme with him and told him that he was a “predator” to “his face”.
Ryan appeared alongside Brand on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle in 2018.
However, she has not confirmed that she was referring to Brand, and has not named the show that she was working on.
This week, Ryan said that there are “a lot of women speaking privately and quietly” following the guilty verdict, who feel “a very nuanced mix of emotions”.
Speaking on her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, Ryan said: "It really made me feel just quite dysregulated again, caught off-guard, emotional, in awe of the survivors who also had nothing to gain.
“They came forward despite Russell Brand having fame, power, money, and a legion of fans ready to attack them.”
She added: “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, 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, who've carried that around long enough, and will continue to carry that in some way, regardless of what justice is done.
“This verdict came because women were hurt, and I worry as well about what happens next.
“Because he's obviously spent a long time cultivating this idea that the establishment have invented these claims against him, and he's martyred himself to a growing audience who really still think that it is the courageous survivors who are the villains in this story.
“I just… I don’t know if you can podcast from jail. I hope not.”
She continued: “Today there are a lot of women speaking, like the way we always do, privately and quietly, the way we’ve learned to do, to avoid being attacked and to keep each other safe, and a lot of those women feel a very nuanced mix of emotions today.”
Ryan also blasted the actions of Brand's barrister, who launched into a tirade at a journalist outside the courtroom.
Ian Winter KC confronted Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin, whose investigation led to Brand's victims coming forward, telling her: “I hope you are pleased with yourself.”
Ms Urwin responded: “I’m pleased justice has been done,” before Mr Winter said: “Well, it wasn’t. You f***** it.”
“Congratulations,” he added.
Ryan said: “That was so unprofessional, so inappropriate, so aggressive. Really sickening.”
During the trial, Mr Winter had argued that reporting of allegations against Brand by Ms Urwin and others had “poisoned the well”, and rendered it impossible for him to have a fair trial.
The trial judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, dismissed an attempt by Brand to block his trial from taking place because of negative media coverage.
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