After four women leveled credible allegations against the Hollywood actor and comedian Russell Brand, including sexual assault and rape, Brand’s career was effectively canceled.
On Tuesday, the BBC took down several TV and radio programs that used Brand’s work. According to Deadline, this follows the cancellation of archived episodes of “Big Brother’s Big Mouth” and “The Great British Bake Off” on Channel 4. According to a company representative, having evaluated that the content now falls below public expectations, the BBC has decided to remove some of it after a careful examination.
Russell Brand’s show was canceled after he was accused of sexual assault and rape. YouTube pulled all advertising from his channel, and the BBC has started erasing all references to him from its archives.
The company’s decision to delete Brand’s posts was not made flippantly.
The BBC said when something is already in the public record, they do not ban or remove content unless they have justification.
The British Broadcasting Company did not say which shows were taken down or which would be removed soon. According to reports, however, one episode of QI can no longer be viewed on BBC iPlayer.
According to reports, an episode of “The Joe Wicks Podcast” featuring Brand has also been pulled from BBC Sounds.
Brand’s primary source of income, the video-sharing website YouTube, has also taken action against the entertainer in the wake of the uproar over the allegations. Brand’s earnings potential hit Tuesday when the platform disabled advertising on his channel. Brand’schannel has attracted 6.6 million subscribers.
Damage control efforts on Brand’s end have also advanced, with the postponement of planned concert dates that were supposed to be a part of his “Bipolarisation” tour.
His team said in a statement released as a single sentence that they were postponing the remaining charity fundraiser events (for addiction,) trusting that the ticket buyers would “understand.”
Brand denies the charges and claims his contact with the accusers was voluntary.
To this point, the allegations against him have been the primary cause of the decline in his business and reputation. Neither of the claimed victims have filed any formal criminal complaints.
