Global Courant
Russell Brand is back on Rumble more than a week on from allegations he raped and sexually assaulted four women at the height of his fame.
The comedian returned to his daily Stay Free show on Rumble, a video streaming service favored by free speech advocates as an alternative to YouTube, which demonetized Brand’s channel last week.
During the show, Brand questioned whether he was being “silenced” by “legacy media” after The Times, Sunday Times, and Channel 4 published allegations against him. Brand denies all criminal wrongdoing.
The show streamed soon after the Metropolitan Police announced that it would investigate allegations of sexual offenses in London and elsewhere in the UK.
“We continue to encourage anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offense, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us,” police said.
On his Rumble show, Brand said it was “hard for me to be objective” about the mainstream media “given the events of the last week,” but thanked his followers for questioning the information they had received.
He did not address the allegations directly, but took aim at the Trusted News Initiative, a partnership between the BBC and major publications including The Washington Post, to fight against disinformation.
“It appears that apparently independent or at least separate news organizations are collaborating — and I hesitate to use this word — conspiring to control global news narratives in some of the most important stories in the world,” he claimed.
During the stream, which was at one point watched by 86,000 people, Brand interviewed stand-up comedian Jimmy Dore and thanked him for being a guest on the show. “It really lifts my spirit at a time where I clearly needed it, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you,” he said.
