What happens when a channel is demonetized? Russell Brand cannot make any money from YouTube videos following recent allegations

September 2023 has proven to be quite a tumultuous month for comedian and celebrity Russell Brand. Earlier last week, he was accused by four women of s*xual assault and abuse after a joint investigation from The Times of London, The Sunday Times, and Channel 4's dispatches. On September 19, 2023, amid all the allegations leveled against Brand, YouTube decided to demonetize all of his channels.

Aside from being one of the most popular comedians in the world, over the past few years, Russell Brand has slowly embraced the digital landscape. His off-beat critical humor and witty personality have made him quite popular on social media, notably on YouTube, wherein he has over 7.5 million subscribers across four different YouTube channels.

Since being demonetized, the comedian has uploaded a YouTube video wherein he vehemently denied these allegations and labeled this as a "coordinated attack."

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Why can't Russell Brand make money from YouTube? Channel demonetization and its consequences

For the uninitiated, as the term suggests, a demonetized YouTube channel refers to a situation in which content creators lose their ability to receive any revenue from AdSense and other monetization features. YouTube has the liberty to either demonetize a specific video or an entire channel depending on the specific action, like copyright infringement, reaching video hosting rules, showcasing controversial content, or violating any ToS and community guidelines.

In Brand's case, the comedian-turned-streamer was accused of s*xual assault and abuse, which are against YouTube's terms of service and community guidelines. Though YouTube does explicitly state that lewd content is prohibited on its servers, the guidelines do not specifically state anything related to a user's offline behavior. Depending on the outcome of these allegations and subsequent legal proceedings, the platform will decide the fate of Russell Brand's channels and their monetization.

However, as it stands, Brand can not earn anything from his YouTube channels, including his main one, which boasts six million subs and over 1,130,865,381 views.

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Fans support Russell Brand

Brand uploaded a nearly three-minute-long video on the very day of the triage of the Times and Channel 4's joint survey, addressing the whole situation and vehemently denying any wrongdoing on his part. Individuals within the online community, alongside notable figures like Andrew Tate, Tucker Carlson, and Elon Musk, expressed solidarity with the comedian.

Elon Musk's response to the allegations against Brand. (Image via X)

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In the wake of these allegations, Russell Brand has postponed his upcoming U.K. tour as well as the ongoing comedy tour.