Katherine Ryan has broken her silence on Russell Brand’s rape conviction, calling the verdict “grief alongside relief” while condemning his defense barrister’s “unprofessional fit of childlike tantrum” outside the courthouse.
Ryan, 41, addressed the guilty verdict on her podcast This and That after Brand, 49, was convicted Wednesday on one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault following a trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court. The comedian and TV presenter revealed she had deliberately avoided following the proceedings too closely, finding the case “extremely sad.”
The Canadian-born star has a documented history with Brand dating back to 2018, when the two appeared together on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle. Sources said in 2023 that Ryan had accused Brand of being a “sexual predator” during filming on multiple occasions, though the exchanges were edited out of the broadcast entirely. Brand departed the series after just one season.
Ryan reserved her sharpest criticism for Brand’s defense barrister, Ian Winter KC, who confronted Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin in the street after Wednesday’s verdict. Urwin had helped break the story wide open through a joint investigation by the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches that spurred the criminal case.
Winter reportedly told Urwin, “I hope you are pleased with yourself.” When she responded that she was “pleased justice was done,” he allegedly fired back: “Well, it wasn’t. You f***ed it… congratulations.”
Ryan did not hold back in her assessment of the exchange on her podcast. “He swore at her, this man, just because he lost,” she said. “That was so unprofessional, so inappropriate, so aggressive, really sickening.”
The podcaster also pushed back against what she saw as excessive celebration online in the verdict’s immediate aftermath. “A lot of the celebratory ‘aha’ has rubbed me the wrong way, I will never be the person who dances on graves,” Ryan stated. “There’s grief alongside relief and it was proved in court that a terrible thing happened… This verdict came because women were heard.”
Ryan voiced concern about Brand’s ability to maintain influence even from behind bars. “He’s spent a long time cultivating this idea that the establishment have invented these claims against him, he’s martyred himself to a growing audience who really still think it’s the courageous survivors who are the villains in this story,” she continued. “I don’t know if you can podcast from jail, I hope not.”
She extended sympathy toward Brand’s family despite the conviction. “I hope for peace and healing for his daughters and his wife, I certainly think this is a better situation for them. It will be painful for a while, it’s just pain.”
Ryan also expressed admiration for those who testified, noting that several men took the stand against Brand. She described herself as “in awe” of the victims and witnesses who came forward.
Brand now faces a “significant custodial sentence,” according to presiding Judge Mr Justice Bennathan, with sentencing scheduled for Monday at the same court. The comedian had built a substantial following in recent years through his online commentary and wellness-oriented content, pivoting away from mainstream entertainment after the 2023 investigative reports first surfaced.
Ryan’s public stance against Brand predated those reports by years, making her one of the earliest figures in British comedy to directly challenge his behavior, even if those moments never reached broadcast audiences.