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Russell Brand has asked fans to turn their moral support into financial support as he’s feeling the pinch after being accused of raping and sexually assaulting four women, including a 16-year-old.
The scandal-scarred actor, 48, urged his followers to fork out $60 annually to become paying subscribers on Rumble — a video app that is a rival of YouTube, and is avowedly committed to free speech.
The brazen request came just hours after London’s Metropolitan Police force had launched a full-scale investigation into “a number of allegations of sexual offenses” against Brand, who has vehemently denied them.
But the comedian claims it’s nothing more than a conspiracy to silence him and “independent media voices.”
“You now know that I have been demonetized on YouTube,” he said on Rumble Monday night, referencing the platform suspending his ability to cash in following the allegations against him. “Fully well aware that the government wrote to social media platforms to demand that I be further censored.”
“The global media war against free speech is in full swing, how do I know? Take a guess,” he continued.
“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,” the “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” star added.
“What we appear to be looking at here are a set of collaborating institutions that have an agenda, and pursue that agenda, even when in pursuing it they have to bypass, obstruct, or absolutely ignoring existing judicial or regulatory bodies by moving straight to punitive measures,” he shared.
On Monday, Scotland Yard — which houses the Metropolitan Police — announced that it has launched a police probe relating to the allegations made against Brand in London, as well as the rest of the UK.
The Met police said the allegations were all non-recent, and Brand — who maintains his innocence — has not been charged with anything.
“Following an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches and The Sunday Times, the Met has received a number of allegations of sexual offenses in London,” the police force said in a statement.
“We have also received a number of allegations of sexual offenses committed elsewhere in the country and will investigate these.”
The Post has contacted Brand’s reps for comment.
Last week, the Met said it received one report of alleged sexual assault from 2003 and encouraged others to come forward.
Days later, Brand posted yet another video on social media in which he begged his fans for their support after what he described as a “distressing week.”
Russell Brand sexual assault allegations
Russell Brand was accused of raping, sexually assaulting and abusing four women over the course of seven years from 2006 to 2013.
- One woman, identified as “Nadia,” alleged the “Get Him To the Greek” star raped her against the wall of his Los Angeles home in 2012 and that she was treated at a rape crisis center the same day, according to medical records cited by news outlets.
- Another accuser, who was 16 at the time and is known only by the pseudonym “Alice”, alleged the then-31-year-old called her “the child” and assaulted her during their “emotionally abusive and controlling” three-month relationship, according to the report.
- A woman identified as “Phoebe” claimed he sexually assaulted her at his property in West Hollywood after they met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, according to the Times of London. Brand allegedly trapped her in a bedroom and chased her around before pinning her down and assaulting her.
- The star’s ex-girlfriend Jordan Martin made similar accusations in her self-published 2014 book “kNot: Entanglement with a Celebrity.” She claims he sexually assaulted her at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester, England, after becoming angry that she had spoken to an ex-boyfriend in 2007.
- Pop star Dannii Minogue angrily labeled Russell Brand a “vile predator” as far back as 2006 — accusing him of creeping her out by perving over her “fabulous breasts” and refusing to “take no for an answer.”
Brand denied the allegations in a video on YouTube and X, formerly Twitter, alerting fans to “serious criminal” allegations that he said would be made against him.
“Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks, are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” Branded shared. “The relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual.”
While the investigation proceeds, YouTube has suspended Brand from making money on the video streaming site, his pub “Crown Inn,” located in Pishill, Britain, has been temporarily shut down and BBC has formally launched a review into the comedian’s time at the network.
“Obviously, it’s been an extraordinary and distressing week and I thank you very much for your support and for questioning the information that you have been presented with,” Katy Perry’s ex-husband said Friday.
“By now, you’re probably aware that the British government has asked big tech platforms to censor our online content and that some online platforms have complied with that request,” he added.
Last week, Brand uploaded a video to address “some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”
“The relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual,” the actor and comedian claimed.
Brand went on to say the allegations stem from a time when he was “very, very promiscuous,” which he said he wrote “about extensively in my books.”
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