An upcoming tour of Australia by Russell Brand has been cancelled before it was even officially announced.
Brand, 48, was due to be part of The Wanderlust Festival in February next year but the festival and the comedian have agreed not to go ahead with his performances.
The comedian and actor is facing allegations of rape, emotional abuse and sexual assault. He has strongly denied the allegations. In a video posted online on Friday (September 15) Brand acknowledged he has been “promiscuous” but all of his relationships have been “consensual”.
Wanderlust CEO Charlotte Hill said in a statement: “Due to the circumstances that have recently come to light, Wanderlust and Russell Brand have agreed that Mr Brand will not be appearing at the Wanderlust Festival.”
It comes after Brand’s YouTube account, which has 6.6 million subscribers, was suspended from YouTube’s Partner account “following serious allegations against the creator”, meaning the channel is no longer able to make money from advertising on the platform.
In a statement, YouTube said the decision applied to all channels that may be “owned or operated” by Brand, adding: “If a creator’s off-platform behaviour harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community.”
The remaining shows on Brand’s Bipolarisation UK tour have also been postponed.
A performance of Brand’s tour scheduled for Tuesday (September 19) at Theatre Royal Windsor in Berkshire was postponed, with show promoters saying in a statement shared by the theatre: “We are postponing these few remaining addiction charity fundraiser shows, we don’t like doing it – but we know you’ll understand.”
Performances had been scheduled for two more venues this month – The Pavilions in Plymouth on Friday (September 22) and The Civic At The Halls in Wolverhampton next Thursday (September 28).
Four women have alleged sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame, working for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 as well as appearing in Hollywood films.
He also faces allegations of controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour, following a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.
In his YouTube clip, Brand said he was facing a “litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks”.
he said: “Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.
“These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream. When I was in the newspapers all the time. When I was in the movies and, as I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.”
He continued: “Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well.
“To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play.”
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