But after The Mail on Sunday newspaper wrote about the calls, thousands of irate callers flooded the BBC switchboard and the incident became a political storm. Brand was forced into an apology, but Greenslade said that incident didn’t affect Brand’s popularity among fans as it played into his “bad boy” image. With those videos, Monbiot said, Brand engaged young and disenfranchised voters in a way that actual politicians had struggled to do. Over time, the tenor of the Brand’s videos changed, and became filled with conspiracies and conservative talking points, including vaccine skepticism. Throughout his career, Brand — a self-described narcissist — had sought attention and on YouTube, it was right-wing talking points that got the most likes and shares.

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Persons: Andrew Sachs, Manuel, Brand, Jonathan Ross, Greenslade, ” Greenslade, Sarah Marshall ”, he’d, George Monbiot, Brand’s, Monbiot, Ed Milliband, “, Rupert Murdoch, Anthony Fauci, ” Monbiot, —, Ron DeSantis Organizations: BBC, Labour Party, YouTube Locations: Britain, Spanish, ”, United States, British