Russell Brand is facing multiple allegations of sexual assault and he's unequivocally denied those allegations. 

The claims deal with allegations from many years ago, before 2013. In their wake, Brand has made it clear that he thought this was coming out now because people wanted to cancel him.

This is happening pic.twitter.com/N8zIKLbJN2

— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) September 15, 2023

We'll have to see the facts of the cases as they come out but one does have to ask if these are issues from long ago, why are they coming out now? The timing seems concerning given Brand now getting under the skin of some in the mainstream media. 

Now, YouTube has taken action which is only going to feed the concern that he's being targeted. 

YouTube announced they were suspending the monetization on all of Brand's accounts because of the "serious allegations against the creator.”

“This decision applies to all channels that may be owned or operated by Russell Brand,” YouTube said. 

That means Brand wouldn't be able to earn any money from any of his videos, and he has 6.6 million subscribers and he generally gets millions of views. So that's not a small punishment they are enacting against him. 

I don't know about the validity of the charges. We'll have to see as more information comes out. But what I do know is that YouTube is taking this action without any finding of guilt so far on these claims. Heck, he hasn't even been charged. So forget the concept of innocent until proven guilty. When you are not loved by the mainstream media, you are guilty until proven innocent. And what did any of this alleged behavior have to do with his YouTube channel?  It might be one another thing if there was bad behavior allegedly regarding the account, but It just seems like they want to use the claims to drop the hammer on Brand's account.

 A YouTube spokesperson explained it this way, “If a creator’s off-platform behavior harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community.” But how are his videos "hurting the community," unless you mean he's saying things you don't want him to say? 

That's a troubling thing when they're already making a judgment about guilt or innocence and proclaiming him harmful. 

Even if YouTube shuts him down, he does have some other options, although those avenues might not be quite as lucrative. 

Brand still has a presence on Rumble, a video site popular with some conservatives and far-right groups, where his channel has 1.4 million followers. 

He also has 11.2 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, and 3.8 million on Instagram.

Brand has also been hit with some other consequences. 

He had been due to perform on Tuesday in Windsor, west of London, but promoters said the rest of the tour was being postponed following the allegations.

Brand also has been dropped by his talent agency and a publisher since the allegations became public.

So whatever the truth about the charges, it surely does look like the canceling effort is in full swing.

Russell Brand demonetized on YouTube. And the new rule has been implemented: You will now get demonetized on YouTube if your off-platform behaviour “harms” its “ecosystem”.

I’m sure this economic censorship is going to be used only with extreme parsimony, and will never be… pic.twitter.com/IUX0kYiK6e

— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) September 19, 2023