Dr. Mehmet Oz behaved as if a comment about consent from comedian Russell Brand, who’s facing rape allegations, was the funniest thing he’s ever heard while appearing at a MAHA summit on Tuesday.
The controversial British media personality was moderating a panel in Washington, D.C., with the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services when the bizarre exchange with Oz took place.
“Russell Brand was backstage hugging the secretary of agriculture, but here he is,” Oz told the audience as Brand walked out. “Took MAHA to a whole new level.”
But Brand quickly responded to the Trump ally’s comment.
“She initiated that contact, I should make clear, doctor,” Brand said before sitting down.
At that, Oz threw back his head and laughed, slapping his thighs as if it were the funniest thing ever.
Brand is facing serious allegations back home in the United Kingdom.
The 51-year-old’s trial for rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault involving six women is set to begin in London next month.
Brand pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually assaulted a woman in London in 2009 and raped another one that same year in February.
He also pleaded not guilty last year to five other charges, including rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault between 1999 and 2005, related to four other women.
With the allegations and trial set to begin October 12, Brand’s appearance on a Trump administration panel on reforming the health agency has raised eyebrows.
Brand said in a social media video after he was charged, “I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile, but what I never was, was a rapist.”
Not only is Brand facing serious allegations, but he also admitted earlier this year in an interview with Megyn Kelly that he had consensual sex with a 16-year-old girl when he was 30. The age of consent in the UK is 16.
Brand was not the only controversial celebrity to appear at the summit. It also featured boxer Mike Tyson.
Others on stage included actress Cheryl Hines, the wife of HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. Kennedy and Vice President JD Vance headlined the event.
