According to Deadline, BBC has removed all television roles featuring Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Death on the Nile) from the channel due to the recent outing of Brand’s alleged sexual misconduct. Over this past weekend, Brand was accused by four separate women of sexual misconduct, even alleging rape in some cases.
A spokesperson for BBC stated “We’ve reviewed the content and made a considered decision to remove some of it, having assessed that it now falls below public expectations. [BBC] does not ban or remove content when it is a matter of public record unless we have justification for doing so.”
The allegations were also recently discussed in an all-staff Q & A hosted by BBC. The meeting was led by Tim Davie, Director General of BBC. Davie stated that they’ll “look at any complaints made bout Russell Brand’s conduct during his time, what was known at the tome, what was done – so full transparency, we’re digging into anything that we’ve got there. I’m hoping for an initial report in weeks, not months. So this is not something we want to take too long [over], but we do want to get to the facts.” Davie also stated that Peter Johnston, Director of Editorial Complaints and Reviews, will be overseeing the investigation into Brand’s alleged misconduct at BBC.
Some of the shows that BBC has immediately removed include an episode of QI and an edition of Joe Wicks Podcast that Brand appears on; BBC has not made an official announcement on what else has been or will be removed, according to Deadline.
In regards to the assault allegations, Brand claims that nothing of the sort is true and that all of his relationships have been consensual. Deadline notes that “he has not commented since publishing a video across his social media channels in which he preemptively denied the ‘litany’ of allegations about his criminal behavior.” While on the topic of social media, YouTube has also suspended revenue on Brand’s YouTube channel, which has over 6.5 million subscribers.
In the accusation of one of the women against Brand, she alleges that BBC arranged for a car to pick her up from school and drop her off at Brand’s personal residence when she was only sixteen. Davie states that BBC “will look at the position regarding any cars used by the BBC at that time – because that was obviously something that, again, in a powerful testimony, was mentioned.”
The review in regards to the allegations against Brand are being conducted by BBC personnel.