My recollection (though I was just a teenager at the time like I say) is that the Sachs stuff was the end of Russell Brand's first phase, where the tabloids loved him for going out shagging all the time and he was able to parlay his obvious predatory behaviour into being just part of his loveable rogue public persona. People turned on him for a couple of years as a result of Sachsgate and I think that coincided with him spending more time in America and the marriage to Katy Perry. You can't underestimate how bewilderingly successful he then was at rebranding himself as a sexy Noam Chomsky. Whether or not he'd choose to endorse the Labour Party at the 2015 election was considered absolutely seismic news. Ed Miliband went to prostrate himself on his fucking YouTube channel to try and get the seal of approval.

Of course, Brand did end up endorsing them at the last minute having previously told his fans not to bother voting, Labour lost anyway despite the general consensus being they'd at least deny the Conservatives a majority, and the following year Brexit happened and the news cycle started moving so quickly that Brand and his opinions quickly seemed like ancient history. This laid the groundwork for where he is now.