Presenter Russell Brand hit the like button on a cryptic Phillip Schofield meme that included the Dispatches hashtag, only hours before the controversial show aired on Channel 4.
In the programme which was broadcast on Saturday night (September 16), the 48-year-old had been accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013. But he has strongly denied the allegations that have been made against him.
Hours before the Dispatches show hit screens, Russell reportedly liked a post on X which featured a GIF of the former This Morning presenter smiling. It also included the caption which read: "If only #Dispatches."
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Since then, Russell has only liked one other post. This happened to be a photo of a group at a jiu-jitsu lifestyle summit.
Earlier this year, Phillip stepped down from his presenting duties from the flagship ITV show after he confessed he'd had an affair with a younger runner while working on the programme. This led ITV to launch an external investigation which is due to report back this month.
Channel 4's Dispatches released a joint investigation with The Times and Sunday Times on Brand. The programme included allegations Brand assaulted one of the women when she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl.
In addition to this, another woman has claimed he raped her against a wall in his home in Los Angeles. Since then, The Times has reported several other women have come forward with more claims about the stand-up comedian.
Oner woman, who went by the name Esme, alleged the comedian had been threatening and abusive. This allegation was also reported in The Times.
Since the serious claims came to light, YouTube has stopped Russell Brand making money on its platform. The Google-owned company said it has suspended the monetisation of his channel because he was "violating" its "creator responsibility policy".
On Friday (September 15), Russell denied the allegations against him in a video statement, saying: "Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute. These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I've written about extensively in my books I was very, very promiscuous.
"Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. It's worth mentioning there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narratives these two mainstream outlets are trying to construct, apparently in what seems to me to be a co-ordinated attack. I don't want to get into this any further because of the serious nature of the allegations but I feel like I'm being attacked and plainly they are working very closely together."
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