Fielding distances himself from Brand after 10-year sentence

Noel Fielding distanced himself from Russell Brand in a statement reported by NME on Saturday, after Brand received a 10-year, six-month prison sentence on Nov. 9 for rape and sexual assault.

The Nov. 14 NME article adds a public disavowal from one of Brand’s regular 2000s collaborators. Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault against four women, and acquitted of three other charges.

“I was horrified and deeply disturbed to learn of Russell Brand’s crimes, which I was completely unaware of until they became public knowledge. My thoughts are with the women whose courage brought him to justice,” Fielding said in a statement to The Sun, cited by NME.

Fielding said their association was not close outside work. “I appeared on TV, radio and live charity shows with him, and whilst we played it up for the cameras and in the media, I considered it a professional relationship, rather than a personal one. I have had no contact with him for many years.”

He also addressed past material performed with Brand. “Looking back at some of the jokes I made alongside him I was appalled. They were horrible and inappropriate, and I very much regret them.”

Fielding and Brand appeared together on The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year, Brand’s BBC radio programmes and live comedy events. They also performed as The Goth Detectives, including at a Teenage Cancer Trust charity show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2013, NME reported.

One appearance that resurfaced after initial allegations against Brand in 2023 was a 2007 episode of The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year. Fellow panellist Jonathan Ross joked about moving Lily Allen away from Fielding and Brand because of their reputations with women; Fielding replied, “How dare you – we’re not rapists,” before further jokes about sexual assault, according to NME.

Allen later told Grazia she had laughed at the time but, in retrospect, found the exchange “really horrendous,” adding: “It makes me uncomfortable, but I don’t think I felt that at the time, because it was the culture.”

The reassessment has extended to platforms and broadcasters. Fielding and Brand appeared on a 2019 edition of The Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer, filmed in 2018; NME reported that the episode was removed from Channel 4’s streaming service in 2023 after allegations against Brand. Atlas360 reported on Nov. 12 that Netflix kept a Brand stand-up special on its platform while removing it from recommendation algorithms after his conviction.

Fielding has not been accused of misconduct, and NME reported there is no suggestion he knew about Brand’s crimes. Ross also said this week that he was “horrified” by Brand’s crimes and by separate allegations against David Walliams; Walliams has denied the allegations against him.

Following Brand’s conviction, six more women have accused him of sexual misconduct, while the Metropolitan Police are continuing to investigate two further rape allegations, NME reported.

Source: news article, NME, Nov. 14, 2026