Paramount+ has just become the latest streamer to pull content from comedian and media personality Russell Brand from its library; per THR, the service has joined the BBC in removing material from Brand, presumably in response to recent accusations of rape that have been made against him. Brand was accused of sexual assault by at least four women in a recent report from Channel 4 and The Times; although he’s denied them, the allegations have also resurfaced other accusations of misconduct from throughout his career.
News of Brand’s material being pulled from the streaming service comes just a day after YouTube announced that it was shutting down monetization on Brand’s channel, claiming he’d violated its “creator responsibility policy,” and, thus, cutting Brand off from one of his primary revenue streams during this “no longer starring in movies, mostly just showing up in social media videos” portion of his career. (Podcasting brand Acast followed suit, pulling ads from Brand’s shows.) The BBC, meanwhile, issued a statement on Tuesday saying it was pulling some of Brand’s material off of its streaming library, as it “now falls below public expectations.”
Paramount+ issued no such statements tonight—but it did swiftly pull Brand’s 2009 comedy special, Russell Brand In New York City, off of its streaming roster. Elsewhere, at least one of his current specials—2018’s Re:Birth—is still currently available on Netflix, with no signs of imminent departure, while several of his movies, including Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek, remain available in multiple places. Meanwhile, he’s postponed the end of his current stand-up tour, and has been dropped by his management company. When the report was preparing to be released, Brand issued a video denying the claims against him—suggesting that the mainstream media had an “agenda” in its decision to report on the multiple accusations of sexual assault against him.
