Is this this comedy’s MeToo moment? How Russell Brand’s alleged lewd behavior was an ‘open secret’ in the industry and how female stand-ups ‘created a WhatsApp group to warn each other about sexual predators’ on the show -business

Russell Brand’s claims as a sexual predator were an “open secret” in the comedy world and now others have been named as potential offenders as the industry’s MeToo moment appeared to have begun.

Brand – who denies any illegality – was accused this weekend of rape and sexual assault between 2006 and 2013.

Former colleagues who had worked with him also made sordid claims about his behavior, including acting as “his pimps” to pass messages to attractive members of the public.

But while the details of the allegations may have shocked many of her fans, within the industry, and particularly women’s comics, they were not entirely unexpected.

In fact, Brand’s name is just one of many on a “blacklist” shared by women working in comedy who warn each other about possible sexual predators.

MailOnline can reveal at least five other comedians have been named in the conversations.

This number includes famous stars who have appeared on television, radio and on stage.

Some are still performing at the highest levels in the industry, while others have disappeared from the scene over the past decade.

The allegations against them range from criminal harassment to violence against women and their sexual exploitation.

MailOnline has not named them because it has not yet been possible to verify the claims.

In the Dispatches documentary that first revealed the allegations against Brand, comedian Daniel Sloss claimed women would be on guard about him.

He told the show that there were “many stories with varying degrees of seriousness” about Brand that came from a number of different people in the comedy circuit.

Mr. Sloss said he was often talked about in public, and many people in the comedy circuit were aware of his alleged abusive and coercive behavior.

He added that actresses even talked about him in WhatsApp groups where they warned each other about comedians to avoid.

He said: “For many, many years, women have been warning each other about Russell.”

Comedian Stevie Martin first revealed the existence of the Whatsapp group that discussed predatory male comics and promoters as early as 2020.

She was invited to the group in 2018, called Home Safe Collective and initially set up to help women get home safely from the Edinburgh Fringe.

But it became much more important following the MeToo movement which announced the denunciation of Harvey Weinstein as a sexual assaulter and rapist.

She told the Telegraph in 2020: “From rape to unwanted fondling in the green room to drinking alcohol to coerce without consent, women started sharing their stories – and a Whatsapp-based blacklist began to circulate comic books and predatory male promoters. It grows every day.

“The path to these prime-time entertainment TV shows appears to be fraught with, at worst, sexual abuse and, at best, a corrosive environment.”

“I recently discovered that a male comedian was paying other male comedians (performing at a comedy night he was hosting) with female comedians’ phone numbers, rather than cash. How are we supposed to feel respected, and even part of a community that seems to view us as a sport?

The complaints against the actors never caught on in Hollywood, and many of the accused returned to work or were never identified.

But in recent months, the tide has changed, largely thanks to the efforts of actresses and their shining a spotlight on this appalling problem.

Katherine Ryan previously claimed she told a comedian “to his face” that he was a sexual predator and that the accusations against this person were an “open secret”.

The Canadian comedian and writer told Louis Theroux she confronted the unnamed man while they were working on a TV show together in front of audiences “over and over again.”

Speaking in 2022, the 40-year-old said she had no qualms about it as she decided to handle it “like a man” – although the confrontation itself was later deleted from the ’emission.

In her conversation with Theroux, Ms Ryan claimed she received criticism afterward for not naming the person in question in public, but said just talking about him was a “contentious minefield” because he had “very good lawyers”.

The comedian added that it was “not my story to tell” but that she believed the accusations because the sources were “very credible.”

Her friend Sara Pascoe also told in 2022 how she reported a celebrity to TV bosses after a fan told her he raped her after seeing them together on a show.

The writer and comedian revealed she received the information after the alleged victim saw them appear on the same program.

Miss Pascoe said she was contacted with the information, which she passed on to bosses.

Speaking on new Amazon Prime series Backstage With Katherine Ryan, she said: “Have you ever done a job and someone contacted you and said, ‘That’s my rapist’?

“I had it recently on a job where I had to go to the assembly line, and it’s all because you feel such a sense of responsibility but you also want it to be handled well… it It’s so complicated.”

More recently, Pascoe warned that there were more a major sexual predator in show business and they were terrified of being exposed.

But she says they aren’t thriving. They are all “terrified”. It’s a question of time,” she says.

“They haven’t been named yet because no one wants it to happen like this. It’s not good for the victims and survivors, nor for the industry. But they’re not thriving. They’re scared.