Tempting Fate: Russell Brand Removes Wedding Ring in Pre-Split Video

Wonderwall, Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 11:54am (PST)

By Kat Giantis

• As the saying goes, in humor, there is truth. Or maybe that's wine. Whichever. The point is, before calling it quits with Katy Perry, Russell Brand made what turned out to be an unfortunate joke about his marital vows in a promotional video for a November college comedy tour.

  In the vid, the British funnyman discusses his desire to increase his limited knowledge of sororities (he wonders if "they are sort of sex clubs for women") before jokingly removing his ring for the camera.

  "I'm going to place this somewhere very, very safe for the next week," he quips.

  Or maybe longer.

  At the time, however, Katy found the hint-of-infidelity bit funny. On Nov. 16, the popster shared a link to the video with her 13 million-plus Twitter followers, asking for support for her "fowl [sic] mouthed hubby."

  A little more than a month later, Russell filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

  This week, Perry bowed out of an appearance at Wednesday's People's Choice Awards, a decision likely brought on by both the breakup fallout and her parents' controversial appearance last week at an Ohio church.

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