Russell Brand content REMOVED from BBC & Channel 4 with Big Brother, Bake Off & QI episodes taken down years on | The Sun

SHOWS and podcasts featuring Russell Brand have been ripped from the BBC and Channel 4 sites following rape claims.

Episodes of Big Brother, Bake Off and QI have been pulled from the sites years after they were first uploaded.

The Beeb first revealed it had pulled Brand content from its iPlayer and Sounds sites after saying episodes were deemed to "fall below public expectations".

Just an hour later Channel 4 revealed it had done the same – removing all shows the 48-year-old appeared in from its on-demand site.

It comes after four women came forward accusing Brand of rape and sexual assaults in an expose with The Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.

Brand denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

Read More On Russell Brand

Russell Brand’s dad-in-law ‘begged his daughter Laura to end it with the star’

Inside Brand’s relationship with wife’s family – including her dad’s pleas

The BBC said: "The BBC does not ban or remove content when it is a matter of public record, unless we have justification for doing so.

"There is limited content featuring Russell Brand on iPlayer and Sounds.

"We’ve reviewed that content and made a considered decision to remove some of it, having assessed that it now falls below public expectations.”

It is understood an episode of QI and a Joe Wicks podcast, both featuring Brand as a guest, were removed.

Most read in Showbiz

LEGEND LOST

Durham Town folk singer Roger Whittaker famed for expert whistling dies aged 87

IN PLAIN SIGHT

Sara Pascoe warns of TWO well-known predators in comedy industry

GUESS WHO’S BACK

Eminem’s ex Kim Mathers unrecognisable as she’s seen for 1st time in years

TRAGIC LOSS

This Morning star dies aged 53 after ‘sudden illness’ as tributes pour in

No longer available is an episode of The Occult with Sandi Toksvig, Noel Fielding, Alan Davies and Aisling Bea.

In the episode, broadcast on BBC Two in 2018 but recorded in 2017, Sandi mentions a historical figure who married eight to 14 women "many at the same time".

Fielding then says "that's not that many, is it Russell", prompting a large laugh from the comic.

In another moment Sandi mentions a "hand of glory" and Russell replies "it's a good job this desk is here".

Sandi responds: "It's sweet when boys are so pleased with themselves."

Some of the deleted episodes have been available for up to five years.

Also unavailable are recordings of Brand's BBC Radio Two show, which he recorded in 2007 and 2008.

And his BBC 4 documentary Russell Brand on the Road, broadcast in 2007, isn't available.

Even television episodes Brand appeared in have gone – with BBC Two's Blessed, where Brand plays Tommy, "not currently available".

Channel 4 said it had removed shows including the 48-year-old, too.

A spokesperson today said: “We have taken down content featuring Russell Brand from our streaming service while we look into this matter.

"This includes the Celebrity Bake Off episode.”

In one Bake Off episode, Brand joked about his drug use.

As the comedian poured out his flour in a show from 2019, he said: "I'm alright at measuring the smaller measurements, I took two grams out of that basically on instinct."

The BBC had come under pressure to reveal the full history of complaints it has received about Brand.

It has not responded to Freedom of Information Requests by The Times asking for information about any concerns raised by BBC staff, according to the paper.

It also wouldn't reveal a copy of a report into the 2008 Andrew Sachs phone messaging scandal – when Brand and Jonathan Ross bragged about Brand's sex life with his granddaughter in lewd voicemails, it was claimed.

Caroline Dinenage, Tory chairwoman of the culture, media and sport select committee, said: “In a case like this, where the allegations are so serious, it’s really important that the BBC is able to be as transparent as possible about what happened and when, and who knew what.”

Lesley Douglas was Brand's boss at the BBC.

He wrote in his memoir Booky Wook 2 that she was "incredibly tolerant" and had "nurtured, nourished and indulged me as any good woman should".

Meanwhile, YouTube suspended Brand's channel from making money following this weekend's allegations.

Experts say the 48-year-old was likely getting to £4,000 per video – which could see him rake in around £1million a year.

In a statement, YouTube said: "We have suspended monetisation on Russell Brand's channel for violating our Creator Responsibility policy.

"If a creator's off-platform behaviour harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community."

The company said it had suspended the channel from the YouTube Partner Program "following serious allegations against the creator".

It continued: "This action means the channel is no longer able to monetise on YouTube."

Brand posted a two-and-a-half-minute long video to his YouTube page on Friday, denying "serious" allegations against him.

It comes the day before the Sunday Times published its four-year-long investigation into allegations of sexual assault.

Four women claimed they were assaulted by Brand in a period that ranges from 2006 to 2013, when he was at the height of his fame.

One woman who came forward claimed he raped her against a wall at his home in Los Angeles.

She was treated at a rape crisis centre the same day, according to medical records seen by The Times.

She revealed alleged text messages between herself and Brand.

She wrote: "When a girl says no that means no."

Brand allegedly responded to say he was "very sorry".

Another woman, who said she worked with Brand, claimed he sexually assaulted her and then threatened to take legal action if she spoke out.

A third alleged victim, who was 16-years-old at the time, said she took a BBC chauffeur-driven car from school to Brand's house.

She claimed Brand, then 30, was abusive during their three-month relationship in 2006.

Jordan Martin, who previously wrote a book on the alleged abuse she endured in February 2007, claimed he was emotionally and sexually abusive.

During one incident she claimed he made her brush her teeth so hard her gums bled.

READ MORE SUN STORIES

Holly Willoughby pays emotional tribute to This Morning doc after her sudden death

I spent £2k on my 13 ‘fake’ babies, my dad says it’s bizarre… who cares

The Met Police revealed on Monday it received a report of an alleged sexual assault in Soho in 2003.

BBC and Channel 4 have now launched an urgent probe into the allegations.

Russell Brand’s denial in full

Hello there, you awakening wonders.

Now this isn't the usual type of video we make on this channel where we critique, attack and undermine the news in all its corruption because in this story I am the news.

I have received two extremely disturbing letters – well a letter and an email.

One from a mainstream media TV company, one from a newspaper, listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks as well as some pretty stupid stuff – like my community festival should be stopped, that I shouldn't be able to attack mainstream media narratives on this channel.

But amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque, attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute. These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream – when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I have written about extensively in my books I was very very promiscuous

Now during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent. And I'm being transparent about it now as well. 

And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question is there another agenda at play?

Particularly when we have seen coordinated media attacks before – like with Joe Rogan when he dared to take a medicine that the mainstream media didn't approve of and we saw a spate of headlines from media outlets across the world using the same language.

I’m aware that you guys have been saying in the comments for a while ‘Watch out Russell, they are coming for you, you are getting too close to the truth, Russell Brand did not kill himself’.

I know that a year ago there was a spate of articles ‘Russell Brand is a conspiracy theorist, Russell Brand’s right wing’.

I’m aware of news media making phone calls, sending letters to people I know for ages and ages.

It’s been clear to me or at least it feels to me like there's a serious and concerted agenda to control these kind of spaces and these kind of voices and I mean my voice along with your voice.

I don't mind them using my books and my stand up to talk about my promiscuous  consensual conduct in the past. What I seriously refute are these very very serious criminal allegations. 

Also it’s worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narratives that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct apparently in what seems to me to be a coordinated attack

Now I don't want to get into this any further because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I'm being attacked and plainly they are working very closely together

We are obviously going to look into this matter because it’s very, very serious. In the meantime I want you to stay close, stay awake but more important than any of that if you can, please, stay free.

Source: Read Full Article