Video taking off 20x its usual first day

Josie Long recounts Brand assault and demands change in comedy

Novara Media's clip pairs Long's backstage account with television archive as she challenges the culture that marginalised women.

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Novara Media Story of November 11, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 262,855 views a day, 20 times a normal first day on this channel (13,170).

'Russell Brand Bit My Face and Chased Me Backstage'

Josie Long remembers telling Russell Brand she did not like what he was doing. He continued. "Backstage he would bite my face, and I would tell him I didn't like it and he would chase me round," she says in an excerpt from Novara Live.

Long was 22 at the time. Looking back, she identifies the encounter as physical assault and describes feeling overwhelmed by it. Her account comes after Brand was sentenced to more than ten years in prison for rape and sexual assault.

The Short has reached about 213,000 views in 16 hours, already far beyond Novara Media's usual first-day audience for the format. Its comment count has also exceeded ten times the channel's usual full first day.

The clip opens with Channel 4 panel-show archive from December 2007, including Brand making a joke referencing rape. Long then widens her account into an argument about who was allowed to belong in television comedy. She describes young women appearing alongside older, more experienced male comedians, in a culture that sexualised and tokenised them while treating rape jokes as part of the camaraderie.

Her demand is not simply for a reassessment of old footage. It is for the industry to change who gets heard and what behaviour it accepts. "I really want this to be a changing point for the industry," Long says.

Published on Trari