Furore has made 'no difference’ to Russell

The comic blamed newspapers for cynically fanning the flames of controversy purely for commercial reasons, and said he considered the matter over.

He said the storm of protest following his Radio 2 programme has ‘literally made no difference to the way I view the world’.

In an interview with his one-time employers, MTV, Brand added of the scandal: ‘I don't think anything could be worth the amount of press it's gotten. ‘

‘I think the privately owned media used it as a way to try to destroy the publicly funded BBC…. Also, print media is dying because people get their news online now, so newspapers have to enhance their identity through opinion and comment and campaigning. This was a good opportunity for them to do that.

‘It was regrettable. I apologised for it, but the ensuing publicity was just about selling newspapers.’

When asked if he had any ‘lingering guilt’ about the call, in which he boasting of sleeping with the Fawlty Towers actors’ granddaughter, Brand said: ‘No. Absolutely not. I apologised for it. For me, it’s over.

Brand, along with two BBC executives, resigned from his Radio 2 show in the wake of the controversy. One criticism aimed at him was that his apology to Sachs broadcast in the week after the offending programme seemed insincere as he added that the calls ‘were funny’ immediately after expressing his regret.

Published: 24 Nov 2008