Noel Fielding Regrets 'Horrible' Rape Jokes Made With Russell Brand

Russell Brand received a prison sentence of 10 years and six months on Monday, and by midweek his old comedy partner Noel Fielding had broken silence over a 2007 rape joke the two made on live television.

Fielding, presenter of The Great British Bake Off, issued his first statement since the sentencing through The Sun. "I was horrified and deeply disturbed to learn of Russell Brand's crimes, which I was completely unaware of until they became public knowledge," he said. "My thoughts are with the women whose courage brought him to justice."

A London jury found Brand guilty on four of seven charges: one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. He was acquitted on two further counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. The trial centred on claims by six women covering incidents between 1999 and 2009.

What did the resurfaced clip show?

The clip comes from Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz of the Year, 2007 edition. Host Jimmy Carr gathered Rob Brydon, David Mitchell, Jonathan Ross, Fielding and Brand on the panel, with singer Lily Allen as the only woman present.

Ross described Allen as a "sexually attractive young lady" and warned she had been seated next to "two of the best known cocksmen of the business" — Brand and Fielding. As the camera cut to the pair, Fielding replied: "How dare you? We're not rapists."

The clip circulated again within days of the conviction.

How has Fielding responded?

Fielding drew a hard line between stage and life. He said he appeared numerous times alongside Brand on television, radio and live charity shows and "played it up for the cameras and in the media", but "considered it a professional relationship, rather than a personal one". He added: "I have had no contact with him for many years."

On the joke itself, his statement was blunt. "Looking back at some of the jokes I made alongside him I was appalled," Fielding said. "They were horrible and inappropriate, and I very much regret them."

The regret is explicit. What the statement does not address is the setting: the remark aired on a Channel 4 panel show, in prime time, in front of a national audience, and no one involved flagged it then.

What does this change for the wider case?

The trial may be over, but the allegations have not stopped. Six more women have come forward with claims of sexual misconduct against Brand since the conviction. The new allegations span 2005 to 2015 — extending six years beyond the most recent incident covered in court, which ran from 2004 to 2009.

For Fielding, the statement closes a gap of many years of silence; for broadcasters, the resurfaced footage keeps the question of who allowed such material on air firmly open.