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Brand, once one of Britain's most high-profile comedians and
broadcasters, said on Saturday he had never had non-consensual
sex.
That came as the Sunday Times newspaper and Channel 4 TV's
documentary show "Dispatches" reported that four women had
accused the 48-year-old of sexual assaults, including a rape,
between 2006 and 2013.
London police said on Monday that since then they had received
an allegation of sexual assault dating from 2003.
Brand, the former husband of U.S. singer Katy Perry, has
repositioned himself in recent years to build a more than 6
million-strong following to his YouTube channel.
Recent videos included an interview with the former Fox News
host Tucker Carlson and discussions on everything from COVID to
UFOs, censorship and wellbeing.
YouTube, owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc, said it had
suspended monetization on Brand's channel after he violated its
creator responsibility policy.
"If a creator's off-platform behavior harms our users, employees
or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community," a
YouTube spokesperson said.
Brand issued a video message on social media on Saturday to deny
the "very serious criminal allegations" hours before they were
published.
"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've written about extensively in my
books, I was very, very promiscuous," Brand said.
"Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had
were absolutely always consensual," added the comedian, known
for his flamboyant style and appearance.
Live shows planned by Brand have also been cancelled after the
allegations emerged in the media.
(Reporting by Sarah Young and Kate HoltonEditing by William
Schomberg and Peter Graff)
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