What’s going on with Russell Brand?

If you blinked, you probably missed it: Russell Brand has been rebranded. He of mischievous fame from the mid-noughties has found God. This week, Katy Perry’s former husband turned far-right conspirator released a so-called $240 magical amulet that he claims (ironically via a Bluetooth microphone) can protect you from Wi-Fi signals and other ‘evil energies’. His X-feed is a collection of greeting card-sized prophecies; his new weekly special is a “space where (he) can talk about (his) faith” since he became a believer. Recent footage showed him in tight white clothing as he baptized townspeople in a river. Look, I’m not here to make fun of finding religion or to bash the higher power where millions (billions?) of people find refuge, especially after a history of addiction. But while the skeptics among us may smell a fish when it comes to Russell’s timely rebirth, many Christians smell five thousand.

Where do I begin with Brand’s evangelical swerve? He rose to British fame with a Jesus haircut (a sign!?) and the deepest V-neck T-shirts, embracing a signature arrogant intelligence on television and radio. The cultural landscape of the time made way for his straight-to-the-point and sometimes over-the-line misogynistic banter, laced with idiosyncrasy. We loved (or at least tolerated) men boasting about their conquests, just as we loved watching women fall apart.

In retrospect, it’s a great drug, and Brand didn’t create this toxic culture even though he benefited from it. Today, his daringly eccentric character, along with his extreme promiscuity, sours into something far less palatable: a litany of gruesome accusations.

In September last year it was revealed that Brand was accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse of four women at the height of his fame. He allegedly groomed a 16-year-old, who said he suggested how to trick her parents into allowing her to visit him and shove his penis down her throat. Another woman claimed she was raped at his Los Angeles home. Brand has said these are “very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.” He has also described taking a “forced vacation” to Las Vegas with Diddy in 2010.

In the wake of such deep-rooted controversies, celebrity crisis management would tell you to take responsibility, apologize, stay dark and wait. But Brand – a man who, by his own admission, has a clear gift that ‘turns heads’ – has chosen a completely different course, remained firmly in the public eye, continued his path as an anti-establishment commentator and has been baptized in the River Thames by Bear Grylls. Again, spiritual rebirth is nothing to scoff at, but Brand has positioned himself as an apostle of new masculinity—the “consensual” sex that’s forgiven—that can help you part with $240 for a Lifetune Flex from Aires Tech.