Russell Brand Draws Backlash For Performing A Baptism In His Underwear

Russell Brand shared intriguing images of himself performing a baptism. The 49-year-old, however, carried out the religious act weirdly by choosing just to wear his underwear.

The comedian himself was baptized in the Thames in April this year after being open about his growing relationship with Christianity since 2023.

Russell Brand is still at the center of an investigation over sexual assault allegations made against him last year.

Since embracing Christianity, Brand has been outspoken about his faith and his eagerness to deepen his understanding of the religion and its teachings.

Earlier in the year, he followed in the footsteps of many new converts by getting baptized in the River Thames. Now, the actor seems eager to invite others to share in his spiritual journey, as he has seemingly started performing baptisms himself.

On Friday, he shared images of himself alongside a colleague performing a baptism for someone who appears to be a new convert.

“It might seem a bit soon to be baptizing people, but the Apostles did it on day one, so here we are,” captioned the photo he shared with his 4.5 million Instagram followers.

Both Brand and his colleague weirdly chose to wear just their underpants during the ceremony while the person being baptized was fully clothed in surf gear.

While Brand’s participation in the religious act may not have shocked many, his choice to perform the baptism in his underpants certainly raised eyebrows among his followers.

One wrote, “Am I the only one wondering why the guy getting baptized is in surf gear and the two baptizing them are in their literal underwear???? This is quite odd.”

Another said, “Doing this in your underwear is utterly inappropriate. This is a ‘tell,’ a sign of irreverence of the holiness of Abba Pater. Big TELL moment here, making yourself the center of attention.”

A third person noted, “This feels like you’re purposely mocking Christianity.”

However, many quickly defended his actions, suggesting that the baptism was likely spontaneous and that Brand removed his clothes to prevent them from getting wet.

A user commented, “For those who can’t deduce the obvious: it appears the two baptizing likely didn’t have any plans to be doing this at that time, so they took their clothes off so they’d have dry clothes after.”

Another wrote, “My first thought was…it was spontaneous, they were not prepared, and didn’t have other clothes to change into, but that wasn’t going to stop them from doing the Lord’s work.”

One more person commented, “My guess from the underwear is that this was not a pre-planned event. It has spontaneity written all over it.”

Earlier in the week, Brand shared a clip of him explaining a Bible passage on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.

He said in the video, “How can we ever understand with the conscious limited mind that God himself came down to earth and was sacrificed, that we may be redeemed and rose again, that we may have eternal life, with our limited consciousness, it’s not possible.”

Brand went on to note that all anyone needed to do was “believe,” asking them to let go of their own understanding.

He then captioned the clip with the question, “‘Believe and you will receive.’ – can it be true?”

After getting baptized in April, Brand shared his experience with his Instagramfollowers, noting how transformative the act felt.

While speaking with his fans, the disgraced comic described the moment as “incredible” and “profound.” He added that “something occurred in the process of baptism that was incredible, overwhelming.”

Brand also admitted that he still faces the realities of life but feels empowered to deal with them better.

He noted: “Now of course even though it has been less than 24 hours in the interim period I’ve already felt like irritation: I’ve got three children, I’ve got a job, I’ve got challenges, I still live in the world. But I feel as though some new resource within me has switched on.”

Brand’s conversion to Christianity comes after he was accused of sexually assaulting and raping four women between the years of 2006 and 2013.

According to the Daily Mail, one of the women, Nadia, said that Brand had raped her at his Los Angeles residence on the morning of July 1, 2012.

Another woman claimed that the controversial comedian assaulted her when she was 16 while they were in an emotionally abusive relationship. Rusell was reportedly in his early 30s at the time.

In response to the accusations, Brand released a statement denying that he ever assaulted any of the women. The actor admitted that in his past, he was “very, very promiscuous.” However, all sexual interactions he had at the time were “absolutely always consensual.”

The “Despicable Me 2” star added, “I was always transparent about that. Then almost too transparent, and I’m being transparent about it now as well. To see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question, is there another agenda at play?”