WASHINGTON — Comedian Russell Brand, who was previously married to pop star Katy Perry, drew attention at the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) summit after making a pointed joke while moderating a panel, weeks before his scheduled rape trial in the United Kingdom.
Brand was slightly late taking the stage to lead a discussion about proposed reforms to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the agency’s administrator, attributed the delay to Brand embracing Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins backstage.
“She initiated that contact; I should make clear,” Brand told the audience, prompting laughter.
The remark came as Brand prepares to go on trial beginning Oct. 12 in Britain. He faces multiple charges involving alleged rape, oral rape, sexual assault and assault, stemming from accusations made by six women and dating from 1999 through the 2000s.
Brand has strongly rejected the allegations and entered pleas of not guilty. He has maintained that he never engaged in nonconsensual sexual activity and was released on conditional bail last year.
After the charges were initially announced, Brand addressed them in a video, acknowledging his past struggles with substance abuse and what he called sex addiction. “I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile,” he said.
“But what I never was, was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in nonconsensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes,” Brand added.
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Brand also acknowledged earlier this year that he had consensual sex with a 16-year-old girl when he was 30. Although 16 was the legal age of consent in the United Kingdom at the time, he described the encounter as “exploitative.”
According to a joint investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4, one woman accused Brand of raping her without using protection at her Los Angeles home in or around 2012.
Brand has publicly aligned himself with the MAHA movement, which focuses on broad health and wellness reforms.
The summit also featured former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, who joined a panel examining brain injuries and their effects.
Tyson was convicted in the 1990s of raping 18-year-old Desiree Washington and served three years in prison.
Organizers described the MAHA summit as a gathering of prominent figures from the movement, intended to highlight its achievements over the previous year and outline its priorities for the future.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Cheryl Hines — known for starring in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” — and Vice President JD Vance were also scheduled to address attendees at the event, held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C.