Susie Dent is well-known for her word of the day tweets, and today’s was particularly mysterious.
The Countdown star frequently tweets an archaic term that connects to their behaviour or hints at her dissatisfaction with current events, covertly taking aim at the government or whichever celebrity is engaged in scandal at the time.
People believe her Monday post is a reference to Russell Brand, 48, who is embroiled in a court battle after multiple women accused him of rape, sexual assault, and domineering conduct.
According to the claimed victims, the occurrences occurred between 2006 and 2013, when Brand was at the pinnacle of popular celebrity, appearing on different TV and radio shows.
One of the women claims Brand’shoved his penis down his throat’ when she was 16, and the accusations – which Brand has categorically rejected – will be investigated in a Channel 4 Dispatches special on Saturday night, following a protracted investigation by the broadcaster and The Times.
Dent, 58, took to Twitter following a busy weekend in the media, appearing to convey a lot without saying anything at all.
Word of the day is another outing for ‘mumpsimus’ (16th century): one who sticks rigidly to their position, despite clear evidence that they shouldn’t.
— Susie Dent (@susie_dent) September 18, 2023
Revealing her latest word of the day, she wrote: ‘Word of the day is another outing for “mumpsimus” (16th century): one who sticks rigidly to their position, despite clear evidence that they shouldn’t.’
Naturally, her thousands of followers immediately started speculating in the replies.
‘Rather apt, considering some of the people making the headlines today’, one person wrote.
‘How perfectly apposite for the past few days etc.’, another wrote.
Indeed, Brand has stood firm in his rejection of the claims levelled against him.
In a YouTube video shared on Friday night, the Get Him to the Greek actor said: ‘These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies.
‘And as I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous. Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that.
‘Then almost too transparent, and I’m being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasised into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question, is there another agenda at play?
‘Particularly when we’ve seen coordinated media attacks before, like with Joe Rogan, when he dared to take a medicine that the mainstream media didn’t approve of, and we saw a spate of headlines from media outlets across the world using the same language.’
The outspoken comedian has also garnered backing from his fans after stepping away from the spotlight in recent years to focus on podcasting and health YouTube videos.
On Saturday night, he was greeted warmly when he walked the stage at Wembley Arena for a sold-out event, with fans whooping and clapping.
Audience attendees informed the PA news agency that Brand professed his affection for his audience and voiced his wish that they ‘appreciate’ that there were certain topics he couldn’t discuss during the performance.
Meanwhile, the BBC and Channel 4 are conducting inquiries into Brand’s prior behaviours.
The Metropolitan Police Department is also aware of the severe allegations levelled against Brand, having stated that they received a report of a sexual assault in Soho in 2003.
In a short statement, the force said: ‘On Sunday, September 17, the Met received a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003.
‘Officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support.
‘We first spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday, September 16 and have since made further approaches to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that anyone who believes they have been the victim of a sexual offence is aware of how to report this to the police.’
