'Did you have it artificially inseminated?': Resurfaced TV interviews reveal Russell Brand’s sleazy on-air behaviour following rape conviction

Following his conviction at London's Southwark Crown Court for rape and sexual assault, past television interviews involving disgraced comedian Russell Brand have resurfaced.

Archive footage from Australian television shows—including Sunrise—captures Brand repeatedly engaging in inappropriate, sleazy, and boundary-crossing behaviour with entertainment reporter Fifi Box and television personality Lara Worthington. The re-examined footage sheds light on his past behaviour as he remains in custody awaiting sentencing.

Last week, a jury at London's Southwark Crown Court found the comedian guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault against four women between 2004 and 2009. Brand will return to Southwark Crown Court on Monday in handcuffs to be sentenced for raping a 21-year-old at his home and three historic counts of sexually assaulting other women. He is believed to have been in solitary confinement at Wandsworth Prison since he was remanded into custody after being convicted by jurors on Thursday.

All of the resurfaced television appearances took place after the offences for which Russell was convicted.

2010: The off-air lap-sitting incident

Filmed in 2010 to promote Russell's movie Get Him to the Greek, the segment was posted on YouTube but never broadcast, according to the video's caption. Brand, who was then engaged to singer Katy Perry, opened by asking Fifi what her porn name was. He later suggested she sit on his knee to see if he could get her pregnant and when she mentioned her mother, he invited her to join them too.

Towards the end of the interview, Brand told Fifi her laugh made him imagine what she sounded like having an orgasm and then asked whether she wanted him to come over to her.

'No, it's okay,' Fifi replied.

Brand crossed over, sat astride her with his legs wrapped around her waist and kissed her cheek. As she fanned her face, Fifi reminded him he was engaged and replied that he was allowed to sit on other people's laps.

When they met for a follow-up interview later in 2010, Fifi arrived with every question written out. She explained that a few prompts were usually enough when she interviewed Clint Eastwood, but the first time she met Brand she had barely been able to speak.

Also read: Russell Brand on rape trial: Consent, 'more important than sex itself'

2012: Inappropriate on-air pregnancy comments

Two years later, on Sunrise, Channel Seven billed Fifi's 2012 interview with Brand as a reunion between the comedian and his favourite interviewer. However, Brand immediately joked about her pregnancy.

'Who put that there?' he asked. 'Did you have it artificially inseminated?' he said, then told her he hoped it was as 'one of the reasons I came to this country was to finish you off'.

After his opening questions about her pregnancy, Fifi pointed out the baby's face in the scan and told Brand he could keep the picture. When he eventually congratulated her, she thanked him and steered him back to the reason he was there.

'So I wanna talk comedy,' she said.

They got as far as discussing his warm-up gigs in New Zealand before Brand turned his attention to her haircut and suggested he would like to get their necklaces tangled up. Fifi explained she wanted to look a little more demure now she was becoming a mother.

'You're not a mother now,' he told her.

When she replied that she nearly was, he added, 'You're an incubator.'

As they wrapped up, Fifi questioned whether they could end the interview the way they usually did, to which Brand assured her he would be careful of the baby, then picked her up.

Also read; Russell Brand appeals to fans for financial support after YouTube monetisation cut

'You weigh about six pounds more than usual,' he told her, before announcing, 'I'm taking her home.'

'I'm with child,' Fifi reminded him.

Back in the studio, viewers were assured that 'Fifi Box was not harmed in the making of that interview'.

2015: Paternity rumours and encounters with Lara Worthington

During another televised encounter in 2015, Brand then attempted to spread a rumour he was the father of her baby. One panellist jokingly asked Brand how 'the mother of your child' was going. Fifi made clear the rumour was untrue.

That same night, Lara Worthington found herself on the receiving end of Brand's attention. Brand teased her about striking a model pose, while Lara remembered how loud he had been in her ear.

When co-host Waleed Aly checked in with Lara after Brand gave a lengthy answer about his love life and the limits of language, she admitted she could barely keep up. Brand told her she was 'perfect'.

A question about dealing with photographers prompted Brand to explain to Lara how much a 'nip slip' photograph might fetch. He then turned to her looks, suggesting people might struggle to sympathise with someone they saw as a 'shimmering light of pure energy'.

He praised her 'beautiful perfect nose and profile' during a discussion about paparazzi and jokingly called her 'racist' when she offered him a bottle of fake tan. Lara eventually got his attention with a bottle of self-tanner from her range, with Brand jokingly accusing her of racism for offering it to an Englishman.