Katharine McPhee has finally broken her silence on a resurfaced moment with comedian Russell Brand that took place during their joint appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon more than a decade ago.
The old clip has gained new attention following a Channel 4 joint investigation - involving British newspapers The Times and The Sunday Times - in which, multiple women have accused Brand, 48, of rape and sexual assault during the height of his fame between 2006-2013. Watch the moment below:
During this period, Brand was employed by the BBC, Channel 4, and appeared in hit Hollywood films like Get Him to the Greek and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
In light of the explosive Channel 4 documentary and the accompanying articles released over the weekend, various clips of Russell Brand's past television appearances have started circulating online. Among them is a 2013 interview on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he was joined by singer Katharine McPhee.
During the segment, after Brand had concluded his own chat with Fallon, McPhee took to the stage for her interview. However, instead of moving, Brand pulled her onto his lap and began bouncing her up and down. At the time, Brand informed Fallon, "She’s welcome to sit here," to which Fallon responded, "No Russell, don't even say for the queen, you can't."
Ignoring Fallon, Brand shouted, "For the Queen" and continued to bounce McPhee on his lap until she stood up. "You're beautiful," Brand told her. Fallon cautioned him to "stop" and "look away", while Brand joked: "I'll just sit here with my sexual charisma."
McPhee continued to laugh and smile throughout the resurfaced interaction.
Brand later humorously commented: "As you know, I've announced it, I find Katharine very attractive and I think when she said 'exchange numbers,' I thought things I'd like to exchange with her... Numbers. Genes. Genetic info. Data."
When he found out McPhee was married to actor Nick Cokas at the time, he joked, "I didn't know you were married," and exited the stage with, "I'm going to f*** off now."
In recent developments, McPhee - who now has a son with her second husband, David Foster - clarified her stance on the incident through social media.
Responding to a post by the Daily Mail - of which the paper stated the star looked uncomfortable - she said: "Daily Mail – I know nothing 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."
Russell Brand has vehemently denied the recent allegations, accusing the media of a coordinated attack against him. "Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute," he said in a YouTube video. You can watch his full video below:
