The Theatre Royal Windsor has postponed its planned performances of “Russell Brand – Bipolarisation.” Brand’s first sold-out standup set at the theatre was set to take place on Monday evening.
“We are postponing these few remaining addiction charity fundraiser shows,” the statement obtained by TheWrap reads. “We don’t like doing it — but we know you’ll understand.”
The theatre also noted that it will be offering ticket refunds “in line with our terms and conditions of sale.”
In the wake of a new expose from Channel 4 and newspapers The Times and The Sunday Times, theatre officials met to discuss whether they would be moving forward with the stand-up special. In the report, four women accused Brand of sexually assaulting them between 2006 and 2013. One of these accusers was 16 at the time of the alleged incident with Brand.
Brand has denied all allegations of sexual assault.
The comedian’s latest standup special was described as, “Rules and rule breaking! Democracy and freedom! We reach conclusions from mass confusion by polling the live audience. We want to hear YOUR opinion. After amassing a movement of 25 million people across his digital channels, the Community festival and the live show Stay Free; the cultural and political commentator and award-winning British comedian is back on stage.”
The industry fallout in the wake of the report has been swift. Shortly after its publication, Brand’s talent agency, Tavistock Wood, dropped him as a client. It was later revealed that the agency was first made aware of an accusation from a 16-year-old back in 2020.
Additionally, Brand’s book publisher, Bluebird, an imprint of U.K. book company Pan Macmillan, has paused its work with him, and Channel 4 has launched an internal investigation into the comedian. A major supporter of Brand’s career in his early days, the network’s “Dispatches” program was one of the main contributors to the widely circulated expose. Several of the detailed incidents allegedly took place on Channel 4’s “Big Brother’s Big Mouth” talk show. As well as launching its own investigation, Channel 4 has asked the production companies that worked with Brand to do the same.
