LONDON, ENGLAND: Jenny Afia is a celebrity lawyer, who was once hired by the embattled comedian Russell Brand to fight for him in a case against a reputed media outlet for publishing the disparaging jokes made by him on live television.
Just a few days after the ‘Me Too’ became a force to reckon with in 2017, Russell Brand appeared for Channel Four’s popular family talk show ‘Sunday Brunch’ where he talked about his love for the dance show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
One of the hosts of the talk show, Chef Simon Rimmer was competing in the show in that season.
On the October 22, 2017 episode of the talk show, the ‘Get Him to the Greek’ actor asked the other host Tim Lovejoy whether he attended any recording for the episodes of the BBC’s dance reality show where Rimmer was competing.
He asked Lovejoy jokingly, “You're around there every week, aren't you Lovejoy?”
He continued, “What's your motivation on a Saturday at Elstree, lurking round the dancers? 'I better come, gotta support Simon?' Stick around, eventually someone will be drunk enough!”
The British newspaper Metro published an article titled “Russell Brand makes 'inappropriate sexual assault joke' on live TV” on the very same day that didn’t strike the right chord with the comic and writer.
The news outlet also used a few disgruntled fans’ quotes from X, then-called Twitter, who showed their disgust at Brand’s brand of humor.
It was then, that Brand hired the lawyer Jenny Afia to send strongly worded email to the newspaper.
What did Jenny Afia do?
Metro’s sister publication Daily Mail notes recently that Afia, who is one of the topmost defamation specialists in the contemporary world and a partner at the Schillings law firm, sent a castigating mail to the website.
Giving the subject of the mail as “Urgent,” Afia wrote in the mail, “The article alleges that our client joked about, and made light of, sexual assault.”
She wrote, “This is untrue... Of course, some viewers may not find the joke funny, comedy being a subjective experience. But it is significantly inaccurate and highly defamatory to claim that the subject matter was about sexual assault.”
Daily Mail reported that Afia demanded the article to be taken down “urgently” with the newspaper's assurance “not to repeat” such an allegation in the future.
Alongside, she also wrote, on behalf of Brand, that the news agency was required to “reimburse his legal costs.”
The fiery email ended with, “Our client reserves his position in relation to damages, pending your response.”
However, Daily Mail further noted that since Brand indeed said those words on television and the comments were also made on the social media site, no response was given.
Who has Jenny Afia represented?
Afia, the current Head of Legal at Schillings, has represented several A-listers in her prolific career.
Schillings describes her as “Jenny is a leading privacy and reputation lawyer who is ranked as a Tier 1 leader in her field by Chambers & Partners and has been inducted into the Legal 500 Hall of Fame.”
The law firm further writes, “She features in the Spear’s Top 10 Reputation Lawyers 2023 and is recognised in Billboard’s 2023 Top Music Lawyers.”
While her firm is known for representing the likes of Roman Abramovich and Elton John, Afia has personally worked for celebrities like Brad Pitt, Meghan Markle and Adele.
Afia represented Pitt during his divorce from Angelina Jolie too.
Afia has lent her steady presence to the Ducess of Sussex Meghan Markle in her numerous court battles against the UK media.
In BBC’s ‘The Princess and The Press’, she passionately defended Markle against the charges of her bullying the palace staff, per Grazia UK.
She also represented Markle in 2019 when she sued the Mail for publishing her private letter to her father.
Afia also appeared on Amol Rajan's podcast ‘Harry, Meghan and the Media’ and said, “This narrative that no-one could work for the Duchess of Sussex, that she was too difficult or demanding a boss, and that everyone had to leave, is just not true.”
Afia's antagonism against the UK media contiued in Johnny Depp's suit against The Sun also.
As the news agency called Depp a "wife beater," Depp hired Schillings to represent him in the court where Afia was a prominent member, per Evening Standard.
Who is representing Russell Brand now?
Brand has hired Mark Thomson, who also happens to be a former colleague of Afia, for his current legal woes.
Thomson who runs ‘Thomson Heath’ is representing the comedian who is accused of multiple sexual assaults and rape charges.
