Russell Brand has been suspended from making money on YouTube, where he is a content creator with 6.6 million subscribers and is thought to earn around £1million in revenue from the streaming platform.
The comedian and actor, who is best known for hosting Big Brother’s Big Mouth and for his roles in films including Get Him to the Greek and Death on the Nile, has been accused of sexually assaulting four women, one aged just 16, in a joint expose by The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.
In a statement about removing advertising revenue from Russell’s channel, a spokesperson for YouTube said: "If a creator's off-platform behaviour harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community. This decision applies to all channels that may be owned or operated by Russell Brand."
This includes Awakening with Russell, Stay Free with Russell Brand and Football is Nice.
Russell has denied any wrongdoing shortly ahead of the report, which allegedly took place between 2003 and 2013. In a video shared on YouTube, he said: "I have received two extremely disturbing letters… listing a litany of egregious and aggressive attacks… I was very, very promiscuous. During that time of promiscuity, the relationships that I had were absolutely always consensual."
According to the report, Russell used his company-provided car service to pick the teenage girl up from school, and the BBC has since launched an internal investigation into the incidents. The accusations also include claims from one woman that Russell had raped her in his LA home.
His comedy tour in the UK has since been halted, with the Theatre Royal Windsor releasing a statement which read: "We are postponing these few remaining addiction charity fundraiser shows, we don’t like doing it — but we know you’ll understand."
The Metropolitan police also made a statement about looking into the sexual assault allegations, telling Sky: "We are aware of reporting by The Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches about allegations of sexual offences. On Sunday 17 September, the Met received a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003.
"Officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support. We first spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday 16 September and have since made further approaches to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that anyone who believes they have been the victim of a sexual offence is aware of how to report this to the police. "We continue to encourage anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us."