Paramount+ has pulled one of Russell Brand’s stand-up comedy specials after several women accused him of sexual assault, according to a source familiar with the situation.
“Russell Brand in New York” was available on the streaming platform as of Tuesday morning, according to screenshots obtained by NBC News. It was not immediately clear when the one-hour special was pulled Tuesday.
The source had no further comment.
“Live in New York City” was released in 2009, a year after Brando’s breakthrough Hollywood film role in the romantic comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”
The brand’s latest stand-up special, “Russell Brand Re:Birth,” remains available on Netflix. Netflix did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday seeking comment on the status of “Rebirth.”
Paramount is the latest organization to distance itself from Brando, who has denied sexual assault allegations. He has not been charged with any crime.
YouTube confirmed earlier on Tuesday that Brand would no longer monetize his channel on the video platform, saying in part that monetization of his account had been suspended “following serious allegations against the creator”.
Meanwhile, the BBC said it had removed some content featuring Russell from its streaming platform iPlayer and BBC Sounds after “assessing that it now falls short of public expectations”.
Brand’s management agency, Tavistock Wood, has ended all professional ties with him, saying in a statement: “Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegations made in 2020, but we now believe we have been badly misled by him.”
The Times of London and the Sunday Times of London in association with the British current affairs television program “Dispatches”, published a joint investigation Saturday, in which four women accused Brando of sexual assault, including one count of rape.
He was also accused of flinging his genitals at a fifth woman.
The accused have not been named or identified publicly. They include one woman who claims Brand sexually assaulted her during a relationship with him when she was 16.
In the late 2000s, Brand rose to fame in the US in part due to his roles in the highly rated comedies “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek”. (The films were distributed by Universal Pictures, a unit of NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
In recent years, Brand has largely left Hollywood and developed a wide following as a political pundit known for his right-wing and contrarian views.
Brando’s YouTube account has 6.6 million followers and he also hosts a show on Rumble, a video service popular with conservative commentators.
