Comedian

The 50-year-old comedian is already facing similar charges, including rape and sexual assault, involving four women.

British authorities have brought new counts of rape and sexual assault against comedian Russell Brand, who is already facing similar charges involving four women.

The United Kingdom’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Tuesday that the new charges – one count of rape and one of sexual assault – against Brand were in relation to two further women. The alleged offences took place in 2009, the CPS said.

Brand, 50, had already been charged in April with two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. The charges were brought after an 18-month investigation launched when four women alleged they had been assaulted by the comedian.

Prosecutors said these offences took place from 1999 to 2005, one in the English seaside town of Bournemouth and the other three in London.

Brand pleaded not guilty to those charges in a London court.

He is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on January 20 in relation to the two new charges. A trial has also been scheduled for June 16 and is expected to last four to five weeks.

The Get Him to the Greek actor, known for risque stand-up routines and battles with drugs and alcohol, has dropped out of the mainstream media in recent years. He built a large following online with videos mixing wellness with conspiracy theories as well as discussions about religion.

When the first group of charges was announced in April, Brand said he welcomed the opportunity to prove his innocence.

“I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord,” he said in a social media video. “I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile. 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.”

Detective Chief Inspector Tariq Farooqi said the women involved in the case “continue to receive support from specially trained officers”.

He added the police investigation was ongoing and urged “anyone affected by this case or anyone with information to come forward”.

Andy Dick says he is “110 percent” fine after video of him slumped over unresponsive on some steps from an apparent overdose in Hollywood circulated this week.

The comedian and convicted sex offender has been updating numerous outlets about the incident, telling the New York Post on Friday that he believes fentanyl is to blame for his medical emergency. This follows his Wednesday interview with TMZ in which he mentioned he doesn’t “mind doing a little crack [cocaine] every now and then.”

“It has to be [fentanyl],” Dick said to the Post, explaining that paramedics told his friends that the synthetic opioid was the likely cause. “That’s the only thing that can kill you that quickly, like I just dropped.”

Dick recounted to both outlets how he was out with friends Tuesday when he saw a stranger waving him over. He then “snuck away” briefly and did some drugs.

“There was a guy that was my age and I felt for him,” Dick said to TMZ. “He was depressed and he was on the sidewalk … and then he whipped out [what looked like] crack. And I’m like, you know what, I might need a little bit of that.”

He told the Post that he then “just dropped,” but declined to elaborate any further.

According to Shawn Harrell, who came across the scene as friends were trying to revive the unresponsive comedian and was present when first responders arrived, Dick was in pretty bad shape Tuesday.

“He was blue. His hands [were] blue and his face was blue,” Harrell told People. “His body was limp. It was like deadweight. … I thought he passed away.”

But after being administered some Narcan, the brand name of a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, Dick reportedly was able to leave the area with a friend and was not transported to a hospital.

“It was a group effort,” one of Dick’s friends said to TMZ.

According to the Post, Dick’s comments about crack were meant to be a joke.

“I jokingly said ‘a little crack every now and then [is] not gonna kill anybody,’ but it killed me,” Dick said. “It killed me. I died, you know, my lips turned purple.”

Dick has a history of incidents involving drugs and alcohol, including arrests for public intoxication, drug possession, sexual misconduct and domestic violence. He reportedly indulges in more alcohol than drugs, according to a Friday TMZ report.