Russell Brand attacks The Sun over 'hypocrite' poll: 'Where d'ya get this stat? Liverpool? Hacking into dead children's phones?'
The article went on to reference The Sun lead story on Brand earlier this week, which alleged he had been paying rent to a company that avoids taxes
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Russell Brand versus The Sun saga reached all new levels of lunacy today, after the tabloid once more splashed the word ‘hypocrite’ across its front page, this time next a picture of the comedian’s face and statistics from a YouGov poll.
A survey conducted with 574 members of the adult public on 4 December, it claimed, “proved” that “68% say he's a hypocrite” and “64% say he's not funny”.
The article went on to reference The Sun's lead story on Brand earlier this week, which alleged he had been paying a substantial sum of rent for a luxury loft apartment in Hoxton to a company, who it claimed avoided tax by being based in the British Virgin Islands.
Brand, the article goes on to allege, has been “repeatedly” vocal about the importance of the government cracking down on tax-avoiding firms in the past.
It cites an extract from his new book Revolution, which reads: “If they don’t pay tax, we’ll reclaim their assets and give them to the people that work there.”
Brand countered the claims in an episode of his YouTube series The Trews this week, in which is said he was unaware of the tax affairs of his landlord, because he pays his rent to an estate agent, not to the company in question directly.
The new piece also went on to cite a number of things the publication believes evidences their claim that Brand is a “hypocrite” – and the apparent “findings” of the survey.
Things like “Brand recently railed against Page 3 ̶ despite once writing for The Sun and accepting a Shagger of the Year award from us”, for example.
It also included a quote from Economics Professor Lawrence Saez, of London’s SOAS University, who randomly gave the following opinion on Brand: “B-list UK celebrity, A-list world-class hypocrite.”
Naturally, the social campaigner was less than impressed with The Sun’s latest headline, and tweeted: "where d'ya get this stat? Liverpool? Hacking into dead children's phones?"
The Sun are yet to respond to request for comment on Brand's assertions.
He had threatened to take legal action against tabloid earlier this week.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments