Candace Owens Blasts YouTube for Suspending Russell Brand Monetization

Conservative commentator Candace Owens is the latest voice on the right to speak out in defense of comedian Russell Brand, whose YouTube account was demonetized following allegations of sexual assault.

Brand, the British performer best known for his stand-up comedy and appearances in films like Get Him to the Greek and the Despicable Me series, has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse by four women, with the alleged behavior taking place over a four-year period.

The allegations came to light as the result of an investigation by British outlets The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches. At least one of the accusers was 16 years old at the time of her alleged assault, while Brand was in his early 30s.

Brand has strongly denied what he called the "very serious criminal allegations" against him, asserting that his past relationships were "always consensual." In response to the investigation into the allegations, he claimed that "mainstream media outlets are making a coordinated attack."

In recent years, Brand's politics appeared to shift toward ideas and stances typically associated with right-wing fringes. In 2021, he began sharing content marked by COVID-19 denialism and other types of conspiracy theories on his YouTube channel. A number of prominent right-wing commentators and conspiracy theorists have come to his defense against the recent allegations, including Tucker Carlson, Andrew Tate, Charlie Kirk and Alex Jones.

On Tuesday, Owens, a conservative activist known for support of former President Donald Trump and criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement, came to Brand's defense after YouTube moved to demonetize the content on his channel.

"I actually am struggling to comprehend how [YouTube] can completely demonetize someone based on allegations — when there are actual drug dealers and convicts that currently have YouTube channels," Owens wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "How does that make sense?"

YouTube announced its decision to remove Brand's channel from its Partner Program on Tuesday, preventing it from being monetized, because of the "serious allegations against the creator" and to "protest" its users.

"We have suspended monetization on Russell Brand's channel for violating our creator responsibility policy," the platform said in a statement provided to Newsweek. "If a creator's off-platform behavior harms our users, employees, or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community."

In response to Newsweek's request for comment, YouTube also stressed that Brand's suspension was consistent with past instances of creators being demonetized in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations, citing the cases of David Dobrik and James Charles.

The number of conservative figures and, in particular, far-right commentators who have come to Brand's defense has generated often-mocking responses from his detractors, especially from those on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Such reactions were typified by an X post from MSNBC primetime host Chris Hayes: "The list of people rushing to Russell Brand's defense is absolutely perfect."

Update 09/19/2023, 6:25 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with response from YouTube.