Russell Brand Denies ‘Criminal’ Allegations in New Video

Russell Brand is denying what he says are “very serious criminal” allegations made against him related to past “promiscuous” behavior.

In a new video shared on his social media on Friday, Brand, 48, said he “absolutely refutes” the claims and described them as “extremely egregious and aggressive attacks.”

“I’ve received two extremely disturbing letters, or a letter and an email, one from a mainstream media TV company, one from a newspaper, listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks,” he began in the video. “But amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks, are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”

Although Brand did not name the TV company or newspaper, his video comes ahead of a new special investigation episode of U.K. current affairs show Dispatches airing Saturday night.

In the lead-up to the show airing, multiple U.K. outlets including The Evening Standard  have reported that Channel 4 presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy had sparked speculation about the content of the Saturday show after a since-deleted post on X (formerly known as Twitter) he wrote saying, “Something’s up,” and including a screenshot of the show.

Channel 4 did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

As the video continued, Brand then addressed the timeframe of the allegations and insisted that all relationships he had during a period of self-described “promiscuity” were “consensual.”

“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’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous. 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’m being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny,” Brand added.

The actor then went on to discuss that he felt his “voice” was not approved of by mainstream media and speculated that there was an agenda to control his voice.

“I don’t mind them using my books and my stand-up to talk about my promiscuous, consensual conduct in the past,” he continued with his response. “What I seriously refute are these very, very, serious criminal allegations.”

“Also, it’s worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narratives that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct apparently, in what seems to me to be, a coordinated attack,” Brand added.

“Now, I don’t want to get into this any further, because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I’m being attacked and plainly they are working very closely together,” he said.

The actor concluded, “We are obviously going to look into this matter because it’s very, very, serious. In the meantime, I want you to stay close, stay awake, but more important than any of that, if you can, please stay free.”

Representatives for Brand did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for additional comment.

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Channel 4 has listed a 90-minute special Dispatches investigation episode on its TV guide, airing from 9 p.m. to 10:35 p.m local time. The episode will replay on Sunday night on Channel 4 at 10:50 p.m local time.

No other details have been disclosed about the content of the show at this time.