Russell Brand dropped from Australian festival following sexual assault allegations

Russell Brand has been dropped from an Australian wellness event after being accused of sexual assault.

The British comedian was set to headline the health and wellness event, which is held across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, in February 2024. However, he and the organisers of the festival mutually agreed to scrap his guest appearance after he was accused of rape and sexual assault over the weekend.

"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," chief executive officer of Wanderlust, Charlotte Hill, wrote in a statement.

On Saturday, Brand was accused of rape and sexual assault by four women between 2006 and 2013 in a joint investigation between The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches. London's Metropolitan Police subsequently received a report of alleged assault dating back to 2013 against Brand on Sunday.

Following the news, the remainder of his U.K. tour dates were postponed, YouTube halted monetisation on his video channels, and his book deal with Pan Macmillan's imprint Bluebird was suspended.

In addition, some TV episodes featuring Brand have been pulled from Channel 4 and the BBC's on-demand services, while Paramount+ also removed his 2009 comedy special.

The Get Him to the Greek actor preemptively denied the allegations in a video on Friday in which he insisted all of his sexual encounters were "absolutely always consensual".