A red carpet interview with former couple Katy Perry and Russell Brand is resurfacing, and some viewers are looking at Brand's behavior through a new lens.
The red-carpet exchange is drawing fresh scrutiny after a London jury convicted Brand of rape and sexual assault Nov. 5. A judge sentenced the British comedian, 51, to 10 years and six months in prison Tuesday, Nov. 9.
The 2010 video shows a reporter asking Perry which Academy Award winners she was happiest for following the awards show, at Vanity Fair's annual Oscar party March 7 outside the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California.
Perry and Brand stopped to talk to British morning show "GMTV," and when Brand starts to give his take on the Academy Awards, Perry laughs.
Brand tries
to answer the question himself and holds up a small tag that read "obey." "You didn't watch it!" she said. Brand insists he had. When Perry uses an expletive (as seen in the video below), he tells her, "don't swear."
Russell Brand being interviewed with Katy Perry. He flashes an amulet at her that says "obey" and watch her demeanor change.
— Real "MAGA Extremist" Housewives of Iowa (@fairfield_iowa) November 5, 2026
He was her handler. pic.twitter.com/yVBkShTuCS
After Brand holds up the tag, the reporter turns back to Perry and asks how she dealt with him. "He's actually hilarious," Perry replied. "He leaves me speechless."
Photographs from that night shows Brand also holding the tag toward the cameras as he posed beside Perry. A logo resembling artist Shepard Fairey's Obey logo appears next to the word.
The video has sparked a larger conversation online, with one X user (@Xx17965797N) describing Brand as using the tag "to control her." Some viewers who revisited the footage after the verdict called the exchange "disturbing" in the comment section.
"Mind you he used to use an 'obey' tag on katy perry every time she wasn't agreeing with him," wrote @notwhomstfarted. "imagine the horrors he did behind closed doors…"
USA TODAY reached out to Perry's representatives for comment.
Six women accused Brand of sexual offenses dating from 1999 to 2009. At his 2026 trial in London, jurors convicted him of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault and acquitted him of the three remaining charges. He has denied the allegations against him.
What Katy Perry said about her marriage to Russell Brand
Perry and Brand married in India in October 2010. In a 2013 interview with Vogue, Perry said she often invited him to join her on the road and tried to get home when she could.
"He didn't like the atmosphere of me being the boss on tour." Perry said. "So that was really hurtful, and it was very controlling, which was upsetting."
Fourteen months after their wedding, Brand sent her a text on New Year's Eve 2011 saying he wanted a divorce, Perry told Vogue. At the time of the interview, she said, it was the last she'd heard from him.
The Crown Prosecution Service said Brand committed sex crimes against four women between 2004 and 2009, before he married Perry. Prosecutors agreed to leave the marriage out of their opening statement after his lawyers objected. Brand later told jurors that marrying Perry had brought him "staggering fame."
Contributing: Liza Esquibias, Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russell Brand, Katy Perry video resurfaces, sparking concern after conviction
