Russell Brand pleads with fans to pay £48 a year fee after YouTube cuts him off
26 September 2023, 13:35 | Updated: 26 September 2023, 13:49
Russell Brand has urged fans to pay £48 in a bid to rescue his earnings, after YouTube announced it was suspending payments to the comedian earned through his channel.
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Brand, 48, has over 11 million followers across social media and announced his weekly online broadcasts are now set to go out solely on streaming platform Rumble.
Following YouTube's announcement it was ceasing payments to the comedian from his official channel, the comedian wrote: "Join me LIVE weekdays over on RUMBLE. 11am (CT) / 12pm (ET) / 5pm (GMT)".
It comes as the Metropolitan Police announced is was launching an official investigation into historic claims of serious sexual assault against the comedian.
The comedian has been accused of numerous sex attacks on several women in the UK and California spanning from 2003 to 2013.
Brand's latest video, uploaded on Monday afternoon, is currently the top-ranked video on Rumble - a streaming platform that describes itself as an arena for "authentic expression".
It's description adds: "We create technologies that are immune to cancel culture".
Taking to the platform in his latest live stream, Brand referenced the emergence of allegations as "an apparent concerted effort my legacy media - and now the state and 'big tech', to silence independent media voices".
He urged fans to subscribe to his Rumble live streams following YouTube suspending the monetisation of his channel, with subscribers to the site paying a minimum of $60 (£48) for an annual subscription.
Speaking live to over 70,000 viewers on Rumble, Brand said: "The global media war against free speech is in full swing, how do I know? Take a guess.
"Today, of course, we’re talking about events of the last week but, in particular, the collusion between big tech and government and an apparent concerted effort by legacy media and now the state and big tech to silence independent media voices.
"Obviously, it’s difficult for me to be entirely objective given the events of the past week but that’s what we’ll try to do."
To-date, Brand has denied the claims made against him, last week streaming a video where he asked if fans noticed how the "mainstream media reports on certain stories, investigating them extremely thoroughly, while elsewhere there is little or no debate or dissent".
Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: "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.
"We understand it can feel like a difficult step to take and I want to reassure that we have a team of specialist officers available to advise and support."
Previously, in a YouTube video in which he railed against the mainstream media, Brand said the accusations amounted to a series of "extremely egregious and aggressive attacks".
He said they were "some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute" when they first emerged earlier in September.
"What I seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations," he said, adding that all his relationships had been consensual.
