The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History in Hackney has removed Russell Brand’s pubic hair from its displays after the former comedian and actor was convicted and sentenced for rape and sexual assault.
Collector Viktor Wynd confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that he had taken the item off display. He said he wanted to distance the museum from Brand and did not want the comedian’s name associated with its collection.
The removal came days after Brand, 51, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday, Nov. 9, to 10 years and six months in prison. A jury found him guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women, with the offenses taking place between 2004 and 2009 during his rise to fame in British television and Hollywood. He was acquitted of two additional rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault.
The pubic hair had been among the more notorious items in Wynd’s collection for over a decade. A 2016 account of the museum said the hair was originally sent by a woman who claimed to have shaved Brand at a salon in Camden Town. She included a handwritten letter explaining that she thought the collector would appreciate the unusual souvenir. The authenticity of the hair has not been independently verified.
The museum opened in 2014 on Mare Street in Hackney. Its displays follow the cabinet-of-curiosities tradition, bringing together natural-history specimens, macabre objects and celebrity memorabilia. Among the items are shrunken heads, two-headed animals, dodo bones, occult objects and a lock of Elvis Presley’s hair.
The museum also houses an absinthe parlour and cocktail bar operated by the Last Tuesday Society.