(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Video-streaming platform Rumble rejected a request by the British Parliament on Wednesday to censor celebrity commentator Russell Brand after anonymous accusations sexual assault.
Officials for the platform released a statement responding to the letter via Twitter, defending their decision to keep Brand on the platform and shaming Parliament for making such a request in the first place, according to the Daily Wire.
Attached is the letter from the UK Parliament. pic.twitter.com/MdeYrlt06J
— Rumble – 🏴☠️ $RUM (@rumblevideo) September 20, 2023
“[Parliament is] also looking at [Brand’s] use of social media, including on Rumble where he issued his pre-emptive response to the accusations made against him by The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispaches,” said the letter from Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the UK’s Parliament.
“While we recognize that Rumble is not the creator of the content published by Mr Brand, we are concerned that he may be able to profit from his content on the platform,” she said.
The letter concluded by asking for clarification on Brand’s ability to make money off of his Rumble content and if so, whether platform officials planned on demonetizing him as YouTube did.
Rumble swiftly responded to the “extremely disturbing letter,” decrying the obvious push from the government to demonetize a man who has not faced trial.
“YouTube announced that, based solely on these media accusations, it was barring Mr. Brand from monetizing his video content,” the letter said.
“Rumble stands for very different values,” it added. “We have devoted ourselves to the vital cause of defending a free internet—meaning an internet where no one arbitrarily dictates which ideas can or cannot be heard, or which citizens may or may not be entitled to a platform.”
The author of the letter also pointed out that the accusations and Brand’s content did not appear to be related to one another in any way.
“Although it may be politically and socially easier for Rumble to join a cancel culture mob, doing so would be a violation of our company’s values and mission,” the letter concluded. “We emphatically reject the UK Parliament’s demands.”
Brand, a left-wing comedian and movie star who has since grown in popularity as a red-pilled, anti-Establishment podcaster questioning narratives such as the COVID vaccines and the war in Ukraine, faced anonymous accusations that he sexually assaulted four women more than a decade ago.
He vehemently denied the allegations, which bore all the trappings of a #MeToo style smear campaign to discredit him.
Some pointed to YouTube’s double standard by noting that the woke, Google-owned platform allowed other entertainers who had been convicted of far worse crimes, such as musician R. Kelly, to keep their accounts fully intact, while Brand has yet to be charged with any such criminal activity, nor face his accusers.
Hello @YouTube! When is R. Kelly who was convicted on s*x trafficking and child p**n charges gonna be demonitized? https://t.co/8DwatsuAsy pic.twitter.com/LI4nPVi3JN
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 19, 2023
