YouTube Blocks Russell Brand from Making Money off his Channel

YouTube has stopped showing ads on videos and halted ad revenues made by comedian and actor Russell Brand because of accusations of rape and sexual assault.

YouTube mentioned that it paused the earnings on Brand’s channel because it had breached their “Creator Responsibility policy.” They did this to ensure the safety of their users.

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

Brands channels remain on YouTube. One of them has 6.6 million subscribers, while the others range from 20,000 to 426,000.

According to Variety, both the BBC and Banijay, the companies that employed Russell Brand at the time when the alleged incidents were said to have occurred, have initiated an investigation into these claims.

The allegations against Brand were first made in a joint investigation by The Times of London, The Sunday Times and Channel 4 documentary Dispatches over the weekend. They saw four women accuse Brand of sexual assault and, in one case, rape.

Brand has strongly denied the allegations. He addressed these accusations proactively in a YouTube video titled So, This Is Happening, where he stated that he “absolutely refutes” the “litany of astonishing, rather baroque, attacks.”

The London Metropolitan Police have received a report regarding an alleged assault dating back to 2003. A police representative stated: “Officers are in touch with the woman and will be offering her assistance.”

YouTube’s decision is part of a series of actions taken against Brand. His live tour, titled Bipolarisation, has been postponed, starting with the first affected show at the Theatre Royal Windsor on Tuesday. Additionally, his publishing deal with Pan Macmillan’s Bluebird imprint was suspended on Monday.