Russell Brand performed hours after being accused of rape. He got a standing ovation.

This story includes descriptions of sexual assault that may be distressing to some readers.

Just hours after Russell Brand was accused of the rape, sexual assault and abuse of four women, the comedian and social influencer stepped on stage in front of a crowd of around 2,000 to perform.

"There are obviously some things that I absolutely cannot talk about and I appreciate that you will understand," he told the audience during the London leg of his Bipolarisation tour.

Brand then received a standing ovation at the end of the show, apparently lasting several minutes.

The accusations against the comedian and social influencer are based on allegations from four women who knew him over a seven-year period at the height of his fame. One of the alleged victims was just 16 when she says a then-30-year-old Brand sexually assaulted her.

"I couldn’t breathe, and I was pushing him away and he wasn’t backing off at all,” she told The Times and The Sunday Times.

“I ended up having to punch him really hard in the stomach to get him off. I was crying and he said, ‘Oh I only wanted to see your mascara run anyway.’”

Brand, who is a father to two young daughters, has vehemently denied the allegations, saying that all of his relationships have been consensual.

While Brand's wife, Laura Gallacher, has yet to publicly address the allegations, she has quietly deleted her Instagram account since the reports came out. The actor's TV presenter and model sister-in-law, Kirsty Gallacher, shared his denial video on her Instagram account before the accusations came to light, however, has since seemingly deleted the post.

According to The Times and Sunday Times, along with investigative TV show Dispatches, one of the women alleged she had been raped, while three others accused him of sexual assault. One also said he had been physically and emotionally abusive.

The women said that they only felt ready to tell their stories after being approached by reporters, with some citing Brand's newfound prominence as an online wellness influencer as a factor in their decision to speak.

Before the stories were published, Brand posted a video online denying the allegations, which had been outlined in two "extremely disturbing letters" from a "mainstream media" television company and a newspaper. He didn't identify the news organisations by name.

"Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute," he said 

"These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies and, as I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous."

He added: "Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual.

"I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well."

Brand also suggested that the reports were part of a coordinated attack designed to discredit him because of his views. Brand has been criticised for expressing skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines and interviewing contentious podcasters like Joe Rogan.

"To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play," Brand said.

Brand rose to fame as a stand-up comic in Britain in the early 2000s, which led to starring roles on British TV shows and later BBC Radio, where he capitalised on a reputation for outrageous behaviour and risque banter.

He later made the jump to Hollywood, appearing in films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall in 2008 and the remake of Arthur in 2011. 

Brand was married to US pop star Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012, after the pair met on the set of Get Him To The Greek. The pair divorced after 14 months via text. He is currently married to Laura Brand (nee Gallacher), and the couple share two daughters – Mabel, six, and Peggy, five – with another child on the way.

In recent years, he transformed himself into a political commentator and influencer posting YouTube videos on subjects such as personal freedom and the COVID-19 pandemic.

If this has raised any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.

With AAP.

Feature image: Getty.