Russell Brand news: Paramount+ drops comedian’s shows after Channel 4 Dispatches as Katy Perry clips resurface

Georgina Baillie says she is “lucky to be alive” as she recalled her “shame” in light Sachs-gate and her relationship with Russell Brand.

Ms Baillie’s grandfather Andrew Sachs, was prank-called by Brand in 2008 and told his granddaughter had slept with the comic.

Speaking in an interview with Channel 4, Ms Baillie said: “It was a very very dark time. I was full of shame and self-hatred. Victim blaming was the main consequence. I just fell into a booze and drugs lifestyle. That was pretty dark. I am lucky to be alive, to be honest.”

Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse in an investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches. He denies all allegations.

An appearance from Russell Brand at an Australian festival next year has been cancelled after a number of sexual assault allegations were made against the comedian.

Brand, 48, had been due to take part in The Wanderlust Festival in February 2024. Both the festival and Brand have agreed not to proceed with his shows.

The decision was made after a joint investigation, published over the weekend, by The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches, revealed that four women have made allegations of rape, sexual assault, and emotional abuse against Brand.

His alleged actions took place between 2005 and 2013, during which time Brand acted as a presenter for both BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4. Brand has vehemently denied all claims.

When she challenged him six years ago about his sexual exploits, Katie Glass found the newly styled guru utterly lacking in self-awareness and contrition. What he told her revealed everything we know about how he sees women – and what is flawed about the age of consent.

Fearne Cotton has appeared to delete two episodes of her podcast featuring Russell Brand.

The comedian, who faces accusations of sexual assault and rape, is married to Cotton’s good friend, Laura Gallacher, and, in August 2019, he was a guest speaker at her wellness festival Happy Place. In a Facebook post, Brand described the festival as the “Woodstock of Wellness”.

One year later, Cotton invited Brand to appear on her podcast, also titled Happy Place, for a second time. He had previously made a brief guest appearance after it was launched in 2018. Both episodes, as highlighted by Metro.co.uk, appear to have been removed and no longer appear on the podcast’s official pages.

Paramount+ has removed Russell Brand’s comedy show ‘Live in New York City’, following the BBC and Channel 4 also taking down the comedian’s content.

Brand has been accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame, following a joint investigation by The Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.

The BBC and Channel 4 have both launched investigations into the comedian and actor’s time at their channels, along with removing content featuring Brand from their platforms.

And now Paramount+ has taken down his ‘Live in New York City’ show, as reported by MailOnline.

It comes after YouTube suspended adverts on the comedian’s channel. Brand can still upload videos to his 6.6 million followers, but he will not profit from advertising. Brand has denied the allegations.

The bosses of Channel 4 and the BBC are set to speak at a TV industry event amid rape and sexual assault allegations being made against Russell Brand.

Both broadcasters have launched investigations into the comedian and actor’s time at their channels, along with removing content featuring Brand from their platforms.

Brand, who used to present Channel 4’s Big Brother spin-off shows EFourum and Big Brother’s Big Mouth and work on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music programmes, has strongly denied the allegations.

Chief executive of Channel 4 Alex Mahon and BBC director-general Tim Davie are scheduled to talk at the Royal Television Society (RTS) Cambridge Convention 2023 on Wednesday in King’s College Cambridge.

Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairwoman Dame Caroline Dinenage wrote to broadcasters on Tuesday, including Channel 4 and the BBC, to request further details on what actions they are taking in response to the allegations.

Brand has been accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame and working for the BBC, Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films, following a joint investigation by The Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.

Brand has denied the allegations. He has been “promiscuous” but that all of his relationships have been “consensual”.

BBC director general Tim Davie has announced a review into Rusell Brand’s time at the corporation following allegations of rape, sexual assault, and emotional abuse against the comedian. Brand denies all the allegations.

Mr Davie has now announced a review will take place “as swiftly as possible” with results in weeks.

He said: “We will look at any complaints made about Russell Brand’s conduct during his time, what was known at the time and what was done, so full transparency.

“I just want to say one thing because that came up as an allegation, that the review will also look at any cars used by the BBC at that time.”

The decision by YouTube to “demonetise” Russell Brand is a slightly curious one. They certainly hit him where it hurts: in his bank balance. About £1 million a year. Yet they’ve allowed his existing back catalogue of conspiracism and gobbledegook “wellness” material to remain up; and he can knock out as much self-aggrandising nonsense as he wants, provided he doesn’t make any money out of it. I think we know that the first post-demonetisation Brand video of the new era will be like: baroque, you might say.

So, he’s been sort of half-cancelled by YouTube. It’s as if the board and its advisors couldn’t quite decide what to do about him, and they opted for a messy compromise. Like all compromises, however, no one ends up satisfied. The Brand-haters will think YouTube are still offering this despicable misogynist a platform to air his unhinged views and exercise his obscene passion for self-love. Yet the Brand fanbase will conclude that “they” – the world government of fevered imagination – have ordered YouTube to do it.

The boss of Channel 4 says the broadcaster has “carried out extensive document searches and thus far have found no evidence to suggest the alleged incidents” about Russell Brand were reported to management.

The comedian and actor, 48, is facing allegations of rape, emotional abuse and sexual assault.

Channel 4 has launched an investigation into his time at the channel after he was accused of pursuing audience members for sex while presenting the broadcaster’s Big Brother spin-off shows EFourum and Big Brother’s Big Mouth.

Brand has strongly denied the allegations, in a video posted online on Friday, saying he has been “promiscuous” but that all of his relationships have been “consensual”.

Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairwoman Dame Caroline Dinenage wrote to broadcasters on Tuesday, including Channel 4, to request further details on what actions they are taking in response to the allegations.

Channel 4 has removed a number of TV episodes starring Russell Brand from its catch-up series, following allegations of sexual assault against the presenter.

As Channel 4 announced that it had launched its own internal enquiry into the allegations against Brand, content containing Brand was removed from its streaming service (formerly known as All4 and 4OD).

The box set of Big Brother’s Big Mouth, the spin-off show fronted by Brand, has been removed from the platform, Channel 4 confirmed on Sunday (17 September).

Also among the removed content is a 2019 episode of The Great Celebrity Bake Off, which Brand co-starred in alongside John Lithgow, Jon Richardson and Hannah Cockroft. He won his episode.

A Channel 4 spokesperson confirmed: “We’ve taken down all content featuring Russell Brand while we look into the matter.

“This includes episodes of The Great British Bake Off and the Big Brother box sets that he appeared on.”