Russell Brand: YouTube channel demonetised after assault allegations

YouTube has suspended British comedian Russell Brand’s channels from making money from adverts for “violating” its “creator responsibility policy”.

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The news comes after the comedian and actor was accused of rape and sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013.

Known for his risqué standup routines, Brand, 48, denies allegations of sexual assault made by four women in a Channel 4 television documentary and The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. The accusers, who have not been named, include one who said she was sexually assaulted when she was 16. Another woman says Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.

London’s Metropolitan Police force said that since the allegations were made public it had received “a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003.”

“If a creator’s off-platform behaviour harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action,” a YouTube spokesperson said today.

The move also comes after the remaining shows of Brand’s Bipolarisation tour were postponed.

The tour promoters said in a statement: “We are postponing these few remaining addiction charity fundraiser shows, we don’t like doing it – but we know you’ll understand.”

In a video statement released last Friday in response to the media claims, Brand said that his relationships were “always consensual.”

Max Blain, spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, said the claims were “very serious and concerning.” Conservative legislator Caroline Nokes, who chairs the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, urged police in both Britain and the United States to investigate the “incredibly shocking” allegations.

Brand has been dropped by talent agency Tavistock Wood, which said it had been “horribly misled” by him, while publisher Bluebird, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, said it had decided to “pause” future publishing with Brand.