Russell Brand Threatens To Sue Over Rent Row

Actor and comedian Russell Brand has threatened to take legal action over a report containing claims about his housing arrangements.

The comedian and actor, who has been campaigning over the rising cost of homes in the UK, has been also been adding his voice to anti-capitalist protests.

A report in The Sun newspaper made claims in connection with the home Brand rents in London and a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands, a region considered a tax haven.

In a post directed at the paper and owner Rupert Murdoch - chairman and CEO of 21st Century Fox, which owns a 39.1% stake in Sky (LSE: BSY.L - news) , parent company of Sky News - Brand wrote: "Hey... I'm gonna sue you and give the money to #NewEraEstate and JFT96."

Earlier this week, the author of the best-selling book Revolution joined hundreds of residents and supporters of the New Era estate in east London, to protest against a takeover by a US investment firm which, the residents fear, could lead to a huge hike in rents.

JFT96 stands for justice for the 96 in reference to the number of football supporters who died in the Hillsborough disaster.

Brand, 39, was caught up in a row with Channel 4 journalist Paraic O'Brien at Downing Street when the reporter asked how much Brand himself paid in rent and suggesting the housing problem was being worsened by the super-rich buying property in London.

The celebrity became agitated at the challenge and pointed his finger in the journalist's face, calling him "a snide".

During the interview, Brand told the reporter: "I'm not interested in talking to you about my rent, mate. I'm here to support a very important campaign."

When asked about the value of his home, he went on: "It's rented. We don't know the value, you would have to talk to my landlord.

"Blessedly, I can afford my rent and I'm prepared to stand up for people that can't."

Brand later discussed the interview on his YouTube news channel, likening it to a "quarrel at a jumble sale".

The comic and actor said: "I shouldn't be allowed on television. I'm so easily wound up. What does it matter to me, what have I got to lose, just from this one bloke?

"But I'm a volatile person."

He went on: "When you talk to a journalist I sort of think it's a combination of boring and really annoying, and my personality type is not well suited to that kind of environment."

O'Brien wrote on Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) : "Is it my job to test tension between private circumstances and publicly held views of celebrities? Yes."

Westbrook Partners, the US investment firm involved in the New Era buyout, responded on Monday to claims of "social cleansing... forcing ordinary, working-class people out of London".

In a statement, the company said: "There will be no changes to their residential leases and no increases in rents during the first half of 2015."