Video taking off 60x its usual first day

Bennathan calls Russell Brand a "sexual predator" as he passes sentence

Hook Global's raw courtroom footage keeps the camera on the judge as he moves through each count to a total of ten and a half years.

Channel:

Hook Global Story of November 10, 2026Trari Newsroom

No. 76 on the daily chart

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 1,031,095 views a day, 60 times a normal first day on this channel (17,066).

RAW FOOTAGE: Judge Calls Comedian-Actor Russell Brand a ‘Sexual Predator’ While Sentencing Him

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:00Bennathan says Brand's status protected him until journalists published the allegations in 2023.
0:39The judge warns that the women who came forward must not be publicly identified.
3:03He sets out the first count, a 2004 assault, and reads from the woman's impact statement.
7:58He turns to the 2009 rape count and the lasting harm the woman describes.
16:15Bennathan says women keep the right to say no whatever they wear, wherever they go or drink.
20:56Nine years for rape, ten years and six months in total, with two-thirds served before release.

Judge Joel Bennathan reaches the words in Hook Global's title more than 16 minutes in. "Whatever women wear, wherever they go, indeed whatever they drink, they retain the right to say no," he tells Brand, adding that they can demand justice from the courts "when sexual predators like you, Russell Brand, act without their consent."

The footage comes from a Reuters court feed, and the camera never leaves the bench. Brand is addressed throughout but never seen. Bennathan opens by saying Brand's status protected him until 2023, when journalists published the allegations about offenses committed between 2004 and 2009. He then warns that none of the women may be publicly identified.

From there he takes the counts one at a time. He reads from the women's statements about the harm they lived with afterward, weighs the prosecution's and defense's arguments, and pays tribute to the women's bravery. He also commends the Metropolitan Police for their investigation. At one point the picture cuts to a card saying the feed has been suspended for legal reasons.

The sentence comes after about 20 minutes. Bennathan gives nine years for the rape, to run consecutively with shorter terms for the sexual assaults, for a total of ten years and six months. He says Brand will serve two-thirds before release on license and will be subject to sex offender notification requirements indefinitely.

The video passed 700,000 views in its first half-day, far beyond the channel's usual start. Its comment section is already about four times as busy as a typical first day, and many commenters are arguing over how the terms were combined. A second upload, the police and prosecutors' statements after the hearing, also started fast. In it, Crown prosecutor David Roberts describes Brand as a "manipulative sexual predator".

Published on Trari