Video taking off 20x its usual first day

Emily Maitlis calls her 2017 Brand interview "chilling" to revisit

The News Agents returns to a Newsnight exchange about Brand's past conduct, alongside its coverage of his conviction.

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The News Agents Story of November 6, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 147,156 views a day, 20 times a normal first day on this channel (7,470).

Emily Maitlis looks back at ‘chilling’ 2017 interview with Russell Brand | The News Agents

Emily Maitlis remembers interviewing Russell Brand when his fame gave him considerable influence. Returning to that Newsnight encounter on The News Agents, she focuses on how he answered questions about his past conduct.

The archive footage comes from an interview around Brand's self-help book, with its account of recovery and changing his life. Challenged by Maitlis, he dismisses her question: "Emily, don't get so worked up about it. It's only a rhetorical device." He also says he has made amends.

Back in the podcast studio with Jon Sopel, Maitlis says: "It is pretty chilling to listen back to that now."

The excerpt accompanies a full episode whose description reports that Brand was convicted of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. That episode includes a discussion with The Crime Agents co-host Andy Hughes about how the conviction was secured.

The Short drew around 87,000 views in ten hours, already far beyond the channel's usual first-day audience for that format. Its focus is a specific exchange: Maitlis pressing Brand to look back, and his resistance to the question.

Published on Trari