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Outrage: Comedian Russell Brand has been slammed for saying 'teenyboppers' should take heroinHe heaped shame on the BBC with his vile antics alongside Jonathan Ross in the infamous Sachsgate affair.
And now so-called comedian Russell Brand has sparked further outrage by saying 'teenyboppers' should take heroin - in the hope it would ‘weed a lot of them out’ through drug overdoses.
Speaking in the new issue of US music magazine Rolling Stone, Brand - a reformed heroin addict himself - said exposing young stars to the killer drug would be his way of saving the music industry.
Brand - who is the proud patron of a drug and alcohol rehab centre - grotesquely joked it would be a ‘Darwinian’ way of improving music because many of the young stars would die.
As a result, according to Brand, ‘we would be spared their awful music.’
Former drug addict Brand, 35, said: ‘The top of the hit parade would look very different if teenyboppers were exposed to heroin. It would weed a lot of them out.’
Last night, David Raynes of the Drug Prevention Alliance said: ‘This is mindless idiocy.
‘It smacks of a desperate attention seeking from Brand. It’s just ridiculous. You despair of these people – why would anyone say that?’
Brand also compared current U.S. pop star Justin Bieber to the late Pink Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett, who had a breakdown said to have been caused by LSD abuse. And he advocated all young stars taking drugs.
He said: ‘I don't think Justin Bieber could handle Syd Barrett's habit.
‘You're just not allowed into the studio until you first have had drug-addiction issues. It separates the men from the boys.
‘A lot of people in their journey to rehab - overdose. And then, perhaps, we would be spared their awful music. It's Darwinian. It's the law of natural selection.’
Brand also insisted that rock stars who have died following extensive drug abuse are the people youngsters should look up to.
Brand complained: ‘There's just too much turnover, too many transient pop stars.
‘The music I listen to is mostly by the dead and dying, which is how I want my rock stars: Syd Barrett, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors.’
Brand – who is engaged to American pop star Katy Perry - also urged youngsters to listen to music by people, who had penned songs while on drugs.
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Darwinian: Russell, seen here with pop star fiancee Katy Perry in New York this week, said drug overdoses by young stars would be 'the law of natural selection'‘All children should be made to listen to music by people who wrote it on acid while staring wistfully at water,' he added.
Brand resigned from his show on Radio 2 after he was embroiled – along with Jonathan Ross - in Sachsgate in the autumn of 2008.
The BBC suspended the pair after they left obscene telephone messages for much loved comedy actor Andrew Sachs, regarding his grand-daughter Georgina Baillie.
Despite the public’s revulsion in the UK at those antics, Brand’s career has continued to prosper in the US.
He has appeared in a number of Hollywood films including Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Bedtime Stories. And he is next due to reprise the title role of Arthur, in the film first made famous by the late Dudley Moore.
Brand is, himself, a former heroin and sex addict and a recovering alcoholic.
He has been arrested 11 times and infamously introduced his drug dealer to Kylie Minogue when he was a presenter on MTV.
He has been off drugs since 2002 and is now a patron of charity Focus 12, which is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and deals particularly with drug and alcohol addiction.
Yesterday, Focus 12’s Chief Executive, Chip Somers, defended Brand.
He said: ‘Russell has always been an ardent supporter of the work we do helping to get people off drugs.’
‘His supoort has enabled the charity to continue over the last two years when he has donated more than £100,000.’
According to official figures, 897 people died from heroin or morphine overdoses in the UK in 2008.
source: dailymail
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