YESTERDAY, RUSSELL BRAND joined hundreds of people who have been threatened with eviction in a protest on Downing Street.
Residents of the New Era estate in Hoxton, which was originally built as affordable housing, are facing steep rent hikes after the development was bought up by a New York real estate firm, which is seeking to increase the rent to market levels.
At the protest, Brand was interviewed by Channel 4′s Paraic O’Brien who took the opportunity to ask Brand how much his home was worth and whether he was part of the capitalist problem he has been railing against.
Brand didn’t take too kindly to that line of questioning as you’ll see below.
Brand replied that he didn’t own a home and that he currently rents.
I’m not interesting in talking about my rent, mate. I’m here to support a very, very important campaign.
Brand vehemently denied that he was part of the problem, going so far as to state that he was “part of the solution” and helping amplify the voices of ordinary people. A fellow protester soon intervened and praised Brand for lending his support to the campaign.
Brand then called O’Brien a “snide” and walked away.
For his part, Paraic O’Brien defended his line of questioning on Twitter, saying it was his duty to examine possible tensions between “private circumstances and publicly held views”.
O’Brien’s mentions must have been fairly clogged with mentions from Russell Brand fans as he later tweeted this…
