Actor and comedian Russell Brand has been handed a fine after pleading guilty to speeding. He was caught driving his Mini at 95mph on the M4 on June 16 last year near Slough in Berkshire, breaking the 70mph limit.
The Get Him To The Greek star, who is married to Scot Laura Gallacher, also drove the Mini at 37mph in a 30mph zone in Shiplake, near his Oxfordshire home on March 23, High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court heard.
Brand, who did not attend the short hearing, was handed three penalty points for the 37mph breach, and five for 95mph speeding on top of the three points already on his licence – bringing his total to 11.
Drivers who get 12 or more penalty points within a three-year period face a ban. District Judge Arvind Sharma fined him a total of £3,457 for the offences after the guilty pleas were entered by his lawyer.
Separately, the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star is under investigation by police over allegations of sex crimes made against him by multiple women.
Brand’s motorway speeding came two months before a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches revealed four women had accused him of sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013.
An evidence file has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide if he should face charges. Brand denies the allegations, and previously said all his sexual relationships were “absolutely always consensual”.
In a video posted online the day before the claims were published, the 49-year-old podcaster, who used to be married to Katy Perry, accused the media of a “co-ordinated attack”.
Despite no longer being a prominent figure in mainstream film, television or radio, Brand has continued to carve out a profitable media career for himself by turning to online platforms and embracing an anti-establishment narrative and gaining new followers.
The controversial figure’s videos often tap into conspiracy theories and anti-establishment narratives which have become popular in some parts of the internet.
Some of the most popular videos on Brand’s channel include suggesting a global Covid-19 cover-up and the Great Reset conspiracy theory which claims a global elite used the pandemic to enforce radical social change.
Last year, the comedian – who was also a voice actor in Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2, Hop and Trolls – was reportedly baptised in the Thames having turned to Christianity after facing “challenges” in his life.
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