Video people are talking about 5.3x its usual comments

Brand trial prompts calls for safeguards against 'rape myths'

ITV News examines criticism of courtroom arguments about resistance and delayed reporting, with comments arriving at more than five times its usual first-day level.

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ITV News Story of November 8, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video drew 632 comments in its first day, 5.3 times a normal first day on this channel (119).

Russell Brand fallout: Lawyers condemned for perpetuating ‘rape myths’

Claire Waxman wants stronger legal safeguards against arguments that question victims because they did not fight back or report an assault immediately. ITV News's report follows Russell Brand's conviction for rape and three counts of sexual assault, shifting attention from the verdict to how victims are questioned in court.

The Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales criticises the use of those arguments during the trial. Reporter Ellie Pitt sets out passages from the defence's closing address, including its emphasis on the women not resisting or screaming.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley gives the report's clearest answer to that reasoning: "The evidence is really clear. There is not one way a victim of a rape will react."

The report generated more than five times ITV News's usual first-day comments, without an unusual rise in views. Questions about delayed reporting and how juries understand victims' responses recur in the discussion, the very issues the report examines.

Pitt also returns to the joint Channel 4 Dispatches and Sunday Times investigation in 2023. Journalist Rosamund Urwin commends the people who came forward, keeping their decision to speak at the centre of ITV's account.

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