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The Massive & Concerning Shift in Russell Brand’s Audience & Content

I guess what they say is true —

Travis W. King
15 min readSep 15, 2022

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You might know Russell Brand from his standup career, podcast interviews, movie appearances, or myriad cute Instagram videos of him taking an ice bath. If you’ve been paying attention to him, around and between the ice baths, there has been a severe change in how Russell Brand presents himself to the world.

I just got done arguing with some Trump folks in the comment section of a new Russell Brand video. Oh brother, I roasted them good. I’m usually a people pleaser, so it was a strange experience to just not give the slightest fuck, and to actually want all the smoke.

The five Trump lovers taking shots at me kept ignoring my questions and jabs and just made fun of my mustache multiple times. That's all you got? I love my friggin’ mustache and, really—it chose me. If I shave it off I wake up with a new full-blown mustache the next morning.

Note: If you’re a Trump loving, MAGA hat wearing, fan of the attempted government overthrow, I invite you to stop reading here. You won’t like this. Good day to you.

Chilly. Photo by Tobias Oetiker on Unsplash.

How it started…

I shared a Russell Brand video on my social media about two months ago, asking into the ether if others have noticed the shift in his approach, his content, and his audience. The comment section on all of his recent posts feels like a virtual MAGA rally. Lots of wraparound sunglasses in profile photos.

The video that got me caught up in thinking way too much about Russell Brand was utterly idiotic. The video is a several-minute breakdown of a 5-second clip of Joe Biden.

In the clip, Joe Biden drinks some water and then claps. He claps .5 seconds before the other people around him clap. That is the video. That is what Russell desires to “break down” for his audience.

The reason I first became curious, and then slightly obsessed with this video, is because it is just so clearly not even an event. It is certainly not news. His caption of “And then there’s Joe Biden” feels like an outright admission that this video is about nothing.

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Travis W. King
Travis W. King

Written by Travis W. King

Traveling, writing, & working abroad for 10 years. Former Remote Year Dir. of Community. Check out my travel memoir—Not That Anyone Asked—at www.traviswking.com

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