Russell Brand to Pirate Bay users: download my DVD, please!
By Konrad Krawczyk — December 2, 2013
Lots of actors and creative types are steamed at the thought of their work getting swiped off the Internet from torrent sites by millions of people, free of charge, and understandably so. However, one such figure, actor/comedian Russell Brand of “Get Him to the Greek” fame, doesn’t seem to mind if people use Pirate Bay to download a DVD of his comedy tour, dubbed “Messiah Complex.”
In fact, he encouraged the practice.
Brand linked to a Pirate Bay proxy site on his official Twitter account. He also included links to an Amazon UK page as well as BBCShop.com, in case you wanted to snag “Messiah Complex” legally.
#MessiahComplex – for free
t.co/F4Qour9ngw From amazon
t.co/ybh7uzq5nD From BBC
t.co/sZoW25TRmn
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) November 26, 2013
Aside from the obvious conflict of interest, there are larger issues at work, including the fact that media firm 2Entertain is behind the “Messiah Complex” DVD. The problem? 2Entertain is owned by BBC Worldwide. This comes after the U.K. has taken measures to ensure that Pirate Bay and piracy in general get stymied.
Brand doesn’t seem to fazed by the whole situation though. When asked by a Twitter what Brand’s reps think about his endorsement of Pirate Bay, Brand responded by saying “Some people who’s jobs depend on it are angry. Complex.”
At the end of the day, Brand, like fellow Brit Sascha Baron Cohen, aren’t strangers to behaving outlandishly. This is just another one of those times, with the added twist of a celebrity endorsing the theft of their own work.
