Russell Brand admits he "disrupted" the atmosphere at the GQ Awards after he branded Hugo Boss a "Nazi."
The 38-year-old comedian was booted out of an exclusive after party in London earlier this month after he referred to the history of the ceremony's sponsors Hugo Boss, whose founder became a member of the National Socialist Party in Germany in 1931 and supplied uniforms to the Sturmabteilung, Schutzstaffel, Hitler Youth, National Socialist Motor Corps, and other party organisations.
Writing in The Guardian newspaper, Russell claimed he wasn't trying to destroy the menswear brand when he addressed its controversial past in his speech after winning the Oracle award and that he had no idea his words would it would upset guests at the event so much.
He said: "The jokes about Hugo Boss were not intended to herald a campaign to destroy them. They're not Monsanto or Halliburton, the contemporary corporate allies of modern-day fascism; they are, I thought, an irrelevant menswear supplier with a double-dodgy history."
He added: "Subsequent to my jokes, the evening took a peculiar turn. Like the illusion of sophistication had been inadvertently disrupted by the exposure. It had the vibe of a wedding dinner where the best man's speech had revealed the groom's infidelity. With Hitler."
But the British actor also suggested he has no regrets about the incident.
He wrote: "We all know it, we already know all the important stuff, like: don't trust politicians, don't trust big business and don't trust the media. Trust your own heart and each another. When you take a breath and look away from the spectacle it's amazing how absurd it seems when you look back."
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