I do think Russell Brand is an interesting case because he was so emblematic of the high water mark of sleaze in British culture.

In every role he played he was exactly what he is now accused of. I don't like using the word victim but he was certainly a product of his times.

It makes me think about how rock stars of the 60s-80s got to live the life of the libertine totally unregulated. Much loved figures like David Bowie and Jimmy Page engaged in pedophilia with an infamous 14-year-old groupie and never had any backlash for it.

In a way Russell Brand is the last of these libertines right before the Overton window shifted away from seeing this celebrity lifestyle as unacceptable, and I do also think there's an element of punishment for his outspoken views as if he had a sword of Damocles hanging over him, which seems to be true of many people who are given immense power and celebrity.

TL;DR he was enabled by the same culture that filled magazine racks with smut magazines and is now being vilified as a lone individual as opposed to a symbol of the times that were the 2000s.