The On Brand Podcast: the loony-verse of failed media celebrities enjoying second careers as right-wing propagandists
I make a point of keeping up with some of the dark rhetoric that takes place in fringe media.
Listening to racists and conspiracy theorists is not the most pleasant thing in the world to do, believe me, but I think it's important to understand the messaging out there that is radicalising people towards the far-right.
In this Substack post, I share some thoughts about The On Brand Podcast, which covers the current day career of Russell Brand.
In case you aren't up to speed on what Russell has been up to since he disappeared from movies and television, well, he's become a MAGA Christian nationalist weirdo. There are also an army of women who've come out with very credible claims of having been sexually assaulted by him, too -- something the police are investigating.
It's dark stuff, but there's some levity to be had in a podcast like On Brand because Russell - without the help of a professional television crew - proves himself to bumblingly incompetent as the host of his own show.
An excerpt ...
About the numerous allegations and criminal investigation, Russell has a different story. He claims to be the victim of a conspiracy between business interests and governments to silence him from talking about long-debunked lies about the dangers of vaccines promoted by con-men like Andrew Wakefeld.
Russell is light on details, so the conspiracy he claims is against him remains poorly-explained. But he is very insistent it is real.
If there was such a conspiracy, it has been a remarkably incompetent one. Much like Dave Chappelle has made the essence of his career to say things to audiences which he claims he is not allowed to say to audiences, Russell has turned his bullshit ideas into a lucrative new career as a conspiracy theory influencer.
Business has been good for him. He's got his own corner of the conspiracy theory grift market for himself, and he's indoctrinated some of his old fans into the same belief systems as people like Alex Jones.
Just like Jones, Russell Brand strategically erodes his audience's critical thinking because he has business model designed to capitalise on the power it gives them. Their audience becomes their followers.
A normal person off the street wouldn't buy a common vitamin supplement if the price were marked up by 900%, but people like Russell and Alex groom their followers into it.
The On Brand podcast has been following this phase of Russell's life — analysing his professional output from the lens of understanding the grift. How Russell's been able to tap into ignorance and anger as a way to fatten his own pockets, much in the same way that Donald Trump has, and with the same bad intentions towards the people who buy their lies.
When looking at the content Russell puts out these days, he comes off very differently without the scripting and editing that other people used to do for him.
On his self-produced podcast, Stay Free with Russell Brand, viewers get a less-filtered version of Russell. We see he is a man with much charm, and that beneath his glib wit, there is little to be admired.
He is lazy, petulant and undisciplined. Russell speaks many words about love and respect, but his body language and tone of voice communicate disdain for the people he works his, his fans and for the guests he has on his shows.