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YouTube has suspended Russell Brand’s channels from making money from adverts for “violating” its “creator responsibility policy”.
The video platform said it was taking action “to protect” its users.
It comes after the Metropolitan Police received a report of an alleged sexual assault in 2003, in the wake of further allegations about the star.
Over the weekend the comedian and actor was accused of rape and sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, which he denies.
“If a creator’s off-platform behaviour harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action,” a YouTube spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The move also comes after the remaining shows of Brand’s Bipolarisation tour were postponed.
In recent years, the former TV and radio personality has repositioned himself, posting regular videos about spirituality, anti-establishment politics and, recently, UFOs, to his 6.6 million subscribers.
YouTube’s decision to block his revenue streams applies to “all channels that may be owned or operated” by the 48-year-old.
Other channels associated with his main YouTube page include Awakening With Russell, Stay Free With Russell Brand and Football Is Nice, which have about 500,000 subscribers between them.
While YouTube noted that such bans are rare, it pointed to previous examples including the suspension of adverts from the channels of Slovak internet personality David Dobrik and US YouTuber and make-up artist James Charles.
Speaking to the Guardian, Sara McCorquodale, chief executive of social media analysis agency CORQ, said Brand’s YouTube channel would “most likely” be “making £2,000 to £4,000 per video, not taking into account any affiliate deals and brand sponsorships that might be running in the background”.
According to Companies House, Brand’s company called Pablo Diablo’s Legitimate Business Firm Ltd – saw its net assets more than double from £2m in 2020 to £4.1 million in 2021- BBC.