Figure caption, Listen: Katherine Ryan speaks about Brand guilty verdict
Comedian Katherine Ryan has said she feels "grief and relief" after Russell Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault.
The Canadian stand-up and TV star said there were "a lot of women speaking privately and quietly" following Thursday's verdict, who feel "a very nuanced mix of emotions".
Ryan had previously claimed in a BBC TV documentary interview with Louis Theroux that there was a "predator" in the entertainment industry.
Ryan said in 2022 that she could not name the famous man as it would be a "litigious minefield" but mentioned that she had appeared on a TV programme with him and told him he was a "predator" to "his face".
It was widely rumoured Ryan had been referring to her time on Comedy Central's Roast Battle in 2018 alongside Brand, but she has not confirmed she was referring to him, and she did not name the show she was working on.
Speaking about the guilty verdict of his trial, on the latest episode of her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, Ryan said: "It really made me feel just quite dysregulated again, caught off-guard, emotional, in awe of the survivors who also had nothing to gain.
"They came forward despite Russell Brand having fame, power, money, and a legion of fans ready to attack them."
She added: "I will never be someone who like, dances on graves. There has been some justice done today. There's a level of relief, but there's grief alongside relief.
"Everything's nuanced, and it was proved in court that a terrible thing happened, and that means that a terrible thing happened.
"I just think again and again about people who have been hurt, and who have to carry that, who've carried that around long enough, and will continue to carry that in some way, regardless of what justice is done."
Image source, PA Image caption, Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault
Brand was found guilty on Thursday of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
The former entertainer was acquitted of two other rape charges and one allegation of attempted indecent assault.
The 51-year-old will be sentenced on Monday. The judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, told him to expect "a significant custodial term" after the verdicts were delivered.
Ryan continued on the podcast: "This verdict came because women were hurt, and I worry as well about what happens next.
"Because he's obviously spent a long time cultivating this idea that the establishment have invented these claims against him, and he's martyred himself to a growing audience who really still think that it is the courageous survivors who are the villains in this story."
Ryan's comments came on the same day that former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey questioned how and why Brand was able to "get away with it so long?
"Why didn't anybody intervene? Why did those around him enable him? Why didn't any of the senior executives who worked with him call time?" she said on BBC Radio 5 Live's Nick Campbell on Friday.
"I think they were partly mesmerised. I think he seemed to be 'cool' for a while. I think he did have charisma," added Heggessey.
"He brought in a young audience, which a lot of broadcasters crave. So I think all of those reasons... and as people have said, he did hide in plain sight."
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