Russell Brand Australian tour cancelled after rape allegations

Russell Brand’s appearance at an upcoming festival has been canned before it was even announced. Here is what we know.

Russell Brand’s Australian tour has been cancelled before being announced.

The embattled British comedian was to play shows across Australia in February 2024 as part of The Wanderlust Festival.

Brand’s appearance at the festival was to be announced next week but has been cancelled in light of sexual assault allegations against the 48-year-old.

“Due to the circumstances that have recently come to light, Wanderlust and Russell Brand have agreed that Mr Brand will not be appearing at the Wanderlust Festival,” a statement from Wanderlust chief executive officer Charlotte Hill said.

Xavier Rudd, Lola Berry, Nick Broadhurst, Mick Fanning and more are to appear at a different Wanderlust True North event on the Gold Coast on Thursday and in Sydney on Saturday.

Russell Brand leaves the Troubabour Wembley Park theatre in northwest London after performing a comedy set. The show has since been canned. Picture: via Getty Images

At the weekend, the controversial comedian was accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse by at least five women, including one who was 16-years-old at the time.

The comedian has denied the allegations, saying his relationships were “always consensual”.

Kristen Bell and Russell Brand in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The remainder of his current tour of the UK has been postponed and sponsors have distanced themselves from Brand.

The BBC has opened an investigation into allegations of sexual assault against its former employee. The BBC and Channel 4 pulled content featuring the comedian from its streaming services.

Video platform YouTube has suspended Brand’s channels from making money from adverts for “violating” its “creator responsibility policy”.

YouTube said monetisation of Brand’s account, which has 6.6 million subscribers, had been suspended “following serious allegations against the creator”.

“This decision applies to all channels that may be owned or operated by Russell Brand,” the Google-owned video service said.

Earlier this week, Australian broadcaster Sam Armytage recalled a 2009 interview with Brand in which she described the father of two as “touchy feely”.

Singer Katy Perry arrives with her now ex husband Russell Brand AT THE 2011 Grammy Awards. He told her it was over via text.

Russell Brand leaves the Troubabour Wembley Park theatre in northwest London after performing a comedy set. His tour has since been canned. Picture: via Getty Images)

Historical videos of fellow reporters Fifi Box and Liz Hayes enduring uninvited advances from the comedian while interviewing him have also resurfaced.

“Obviously he was always rather outrageous in his persona,” Armytage told Confidential. “But I do recall him being very touchy-feely and thinking it was pretty full-on given I didn’t know him.”

Four women have accused Brand of sexual assault between 2006 and 2013, with a fifth coming forward later with a separate claim dating from 2003. None of Brand’s accusers have been publicly identified.

While Brand has not spoken publicly since first addressing the claims on his YouTube channel, the British actor liked a cryptic tweet about former BBC and ITV presenter Phillip Schofield, who resigned after admitting to an “unwise but not illegal” relationship with a younger colleague.

London’s Metropolitan Police force said that since those claims were made public it had received a report of a separate sexual assault dating from 2003.