YouTube announced it has demonetized Russell Brand’s channel for violating its “creator responsibility policy” in the wake of allegations of rape and sexual assault made against him. In a statement, YouTube wrote, “If a creator’s off-platform behavior harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community.”
The BBC also announced it had removed content of the former actor from its iPlayer and Sounds platforms. It made the decision after “having assessed that it now falls below public expectations.”
Additionally, the UK Minister of State for Digital and Culture Caroline Dinenage is actively pressuring TikTok remove any possibility of him monetizing off their platform. She is also reaching out to leadership of media companies like Channel 4 and BBC to help her understand the situation, what steps the outlets are taking to remain “impartial and professional,” and why people if they knew about the rumors did not act, lecturing them that this allowed a culture “to permeate.”
NBC reached out to Spotify, Luminary, and other platforms to ask if they would be removing any of Brand’s content, but they did not respond.
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Five anonymous women have accused Brand of sexually abusing them between 2006 and 2013, a period in Brand’s life when he was a Hollywood actor and held positions at BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4.
Between 2013 and now, Brand started a YouTube channel, which has amassed 6.2 million subscribers, on which he began posting content criticizing international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like the World Economic Forum (WEF) and its proposed “Great Reset,” as well as the politics surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine, the business dealings of U.S. President Joe Biden, and the Russo-Ukraine War.
In a video response, Brand denied the allegations and suggested it was a planned and coordinated attack by the media. Several figures in the right-wing anti-establishment space echoed this perspective.
And, as journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out, Brand’s channel has been the home of several left-wing anti-establishment figures like Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, and Marianne Williamson, despite the New York Times painting Brand as a conservative.
Look how manipulatively corporate media weaponizes trite, primitive political labels:
NYT, today: "Mr. Brand built a significant following where he interviews prominent conservative figures…"
Brand's recent interviews: Cornel West, Noam Chomsky, Marianne Williamson. pic.twitter.com/obiPxsJYj1
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 17, 2023
Feminist, MeToo activist, and actress Rose McGowan expressed skepticism about the allegations and calling for the accusers to go on the record with their real names. “Let me start this by saying I stand with all victims,” she said in an audio post on X. “I think what’s being done right now in the Russell Brand case with The Guardian and the other news outlets is part of a concerted effort to turn the public in general, against anybody who comes out. And one of the reasons and ways they’re doing this is a concerted effort to bend journalistic rules that have always been in place such as having to be on the record with who you are and what your name is, in order to accuse. […] I’m sorry and hurt for anybody who’s been hurt. But this narrative and the way it’s being done is just pushing this culture war, pushing us further apart […] None of these high level journalistic outlets would have ever let this be published before. So I have to ask why, why now, what is the true narrative they are pushing?”
What is the true narrative they’re pushing and who really loses? pic.twitter.com/kx1dFUsWpY
— Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) September 19, 2023
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