Katharine McPhee has insisted Russell Brand was “harmless” during a resurfaced interview on Jimmy Fallon.
Over the weekend, the Get Him to the Greek actor was accused of rape and sexual assault by four women relating to alleged incidents between 2006 and 2013. He has denied the allegations.
After the news broke, some social media users began sharing clips from old Brand interviews online to seemingly highlight his past behaviour.
One of these clips involved McPhee, who appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon alongside Brand in 2013.
When she approached the guests’ chairs, Brand held her hand as Fallon asked him to move over so the singer could sit next to his desk. McPhee then sat in Brand’s lap, joking that she could sit there for the interview, but she seemed shocked when he bounced her up and down on his knee and grabbed her hips.
Editors at the Daily Mail posted about the surfaced video on Instagram and wrote in the caption that the Smash actress “looks so uncomfortable”.
In the comments, the 39-year-old called out the publication for involving her in the narrative surrounding Brand.
“I know nothing (about) what you are trying to claim here but this specific incident was over 10 years ago and it was harmless. Please don’t try and use me for whatever purpose you are trying to serve,” she wrote.
On Sunday, London’s Metropolitan Police received an allegation of sexual assault against Brand from 2003.
Brand, 48, strenuously denied the “litany of egregious and aggressive attacks” against him in a pre-emptive video on Friday in which he insisted his sexual encounters were “absolutely always consensual”.
