The comedian turned up in a black Mercedes 46 minutes late to the sold-out gig at the Troubadour Wembley Park theatre, which was due to start at 7pm but did not begin until just after 8pm on Saturday.

The venue has a capacity of 2,000 and fans who had not bought valid tickets could be seen before the show begging front-of-house staff to let them in.

His appearance came as the charity Trevi Women, which supports mothers recovering from drug addiction, announced it was cutting ties with the comedian in light of the allegations against him.

In a post on Instagram, the Devon-based charity, which said Brand had offered his support last year through his Stay Free Foundation, wrote: "Today's media revelations have been difficult to process.

"But our priority remains and continues to be the safety and well-being of all women and girls now and in the future.

"We have ended our association with Russell Brand and the Stay Free Foundation."

Brand, through his own charity, also supports Treasures Foundation, which provides accomodation to women with drug addictions in east London, and Friendly House, which runs a similar service in Los Angeles.

Neither charity have yet publicly commented on the allegations against Brand. Sky News has contacted both charities for comment.

Read more:
The allegations in full

It comes as a video of Brand from inside his comedy gig on Saturday night showed Brand walking on stage smiling and being met with cheers before telling the crowds: "Thank you, thank you, I love you."

Dressed in white trainers, grey jeans, a black jacket and sunglasses, the 48-year-old appeared to briefly address the allegations made against him before he began his set.

Audience members told the PA news agency Brand told them he hoped they would "appreciate" there were "certain things he could not discuss" during the show.

The set itself was shorter than the time crowds had waited for it to begin, and people could be seen leaving an hour and three minutes after it began.

Brand made a swift exit from the venue just before 9.40pm.

After the show, there was a mixed response from audience members to the allegations, with one telling Sky News: "I don't believe anything until it's... you need to see the evidence.

"I doubt it somehow. In my heart, I don't believe it."

Another said: "You stand by women, you know? Women stand by women.

"I'm not going to stand by a man, no matter how much you might like the things he says."

Brand has three more dates for his Bipolarisation live show tour, with his next a sell-out in Windsor, before appearances in Plymouth and Wolverhampton.

His alcohol-free wellness festival, Community, is also due to return in the summer next year.

'I feel like I'm being attacked'

Four women have accused Brand of sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013 while the comedian was at the height of his fame, in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.

He denies all the allegations against him.

Ahead of the publication of the claims, Brand, who has in recent years repositioned himself as a wellness guru and critic of the mainstream media, released a video entitled "So, This is Happening" in which he described the claims as "a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks".

Brand said he "absolutely refutes" the accusations that "pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream".

"As I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous," he said in the clip.

"I don't mind them using my books and my stand-up to talk about my promiscuous consensual conduct in the past. What I seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations."

He added: "Also, it's worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narrative that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct, apparently, in what seems to me to be a coordinated attack."

Signing off the clip, he said: "Now, I don't wanna get into this any further because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I'm being attacked and plainly they're working very closely together.

"We are obviously going to look into this matter 'cause it's very, very serious.

"In the meantime, I want you to stay close, stay awake, but more important than any of that, if you can, please stay free."

Musk, Tate and Gallacher react to accusations

Brand's video, posted on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, received a response from the platform's owner, Elon Musk.

The billionaire wrote: "Of course. They don't like the competition."

TV star turned radio host, Kirsty Gallacher, who is the older sister of Brand's wife Laura, also shared the video on her Instagram story with a red love heart.

She later deleted the post.

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Comedy star often at the centre of controversy
Brand's Radio X show breaks broadcasting rules

Brand also received support from former Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, as well as Tristan Tate, the brother of controversial influencer Andrew Tate, who said he "did not believe one word of it".

Andrew Tate, meanwhile, re-shared a post on X which claimed Brand was getting the "Andrew Tate treatment".

The influencer is awaiting trial in Romania, charged with human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group.

Tate was indicted in June, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects. They deny the allegations.

While the allegations have attracted the attention of major American public figures such as Mr Musk and Mr Carlson, they have yet to make as much impact in the US media as they have in the UK.

While NBC and the Washington Post have featured Brand's denials, alongside entertainment sites E! and TMZ, they have featured lower down their websites, while the influential New York Times, have not published an article.

Cleverly calls for quick response to concerns

Meanwhile, the UK's foreign secretary, James Cleverly, spoke to Sky News about the dangers of "sharp differentials in power" following the allegations against Brand.

He did not comment specifically on the allegations but told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: "We see that [sharp differentials in power] in the film industry, the entertainment industry and sadly, of course, we sit in the area that I work in terms of politics, where you have very, very significant power differentials, long working hours, people in that environment.

"Now, that is absolutely no excuse for individual misconduct and people have to take responsibility for their own conduct.

"In those environments, I think institutionally we need to be particularly vigilant.

"We need to make sure that we are going out of our way to protect the people that have less power than those around them.

"We need to respond to their concerns very, very quickly when they are highlighted."

'Open secret on comedy circuit'

Ayesha Hazarika, a broadcaster and former Labour adviser, told the same show about her own experience of working with Brand.

She said: "I was on the comedy circuit around the same time as Russell Brand, I gigged with Russell Brand, I went on a number of his shows and it was an open secret in the world of comedy for a long time that his behaviour made a lot of women feel deeply, deeply uncomfortable.

"Lots of female comedians talked about this behind the scenes but they didn't have the power to do anything about it.

"We see that story time and time again, whether it is researchers in parliament, young producers in TV and broadcasting.

"We have to have a situation where we believe people and we have a culture where if people do come forward they are taken seriously."

The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage, said MPs would be "closely monitoring" the response to the allegations against Brand.

"In yet another story of alleged power exploitation within the TV industry, his behaviour has been characterised as an 'open secret' by those in his orbit," she said.

"The Culture, Media and Sport Committee are keen to understand the response of the police to the body of evidence collected.

"We will be closely monitoring the responses of the media, especially our public service broadcasters, to these allegations, and looking at the questions that this, yet again, raises about the culture in the industry as a whole."

What are the details of the allegations against Brand?

According to The Sunday Times article, one of Brand's accusers claims she was 16 and still at school when they began a relationship, having met each other while she was out shopping in central London.

Another woman claims to have been raped by Brand at his Los Angeles home.

The newspaper details claims she was treated at a rape crisis centre on the same day and sent him a text afterwards saying: "When a girl say[s] NO it means no."

A third woman alleges he sexually assaulted her at his West Hollywood home after the pair met at Alcoholics Anonymous.

And the fourth accuser claims to have been physically and emotionally abused by him.

A female comedian, who has not been named, also recalls being "grabbed" and "bitten" in the face by Brand when they gigged together in the early 2000s.

She likens his alleged behaviour at parties to the character in the 1987 film Predator.

A comedian told The Sunday Times that Brand's name was regularly circulated in online groups of female comics.

"I know for many, many years that women have been warning each other about Russell," he told the paper.

BBC and Channel 4 respond to claims

In response to the joint investigation, a BBC spokesperson said: "Russell Brand worked for a number of different organisations, of which the BBC was one.

"As is well known, Russell Brand left the BBC after a serious editorial breach in 2008 - as did the then controller of Radio 2.

"The circumstances of the breach were reviewed in detail at the time. We hope that demonstrates that the BBC takes issues seriously and is prepared to act.

"Indeed, the BBC has, over successive years, evolved its approach to how it manages talent and how it deals with complaints or issues raised.

"We will always listen to people if they come forward with any concerns, on any issue related to any individual working at the BBC, past or present."

Channel 4 said it was "appalled to learn of these deeply troubling allegations, including behaviour alleged to have taken place on programmes made for Channel 4 between 2004 and 2007".

The broadcaster added: "We are determined to understand the full nature of what went on.

"We have carried out extensive document searches and have found no evidence to suggest the alleged incidents were brought to the attention of Channel 4.

"We will continue to review this in light of any further information we receive, including the accounts of those affected individuals."

Channel 4 said it would be asking the production company who made the programmes "to investigate these allegations and report their findings properly and satisfactorily to us".