MP slammed for 'dangerous' cancel culture after demanding Rumble blacklists Russell Brand
The Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has been criticised for setting a "dangerous precedent"
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The Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has been criticised for setting a "dangerous precedent" after asking Rumble to stop monetization of Russell Brand's channel on the platform.
Caroline Dinenage wrote a letter to Rumble, a free-speech alternative to YouTube, saying the committee is "concerned that he may be able to profit from his content on the platform."
But she has since faced backlash, with influential Conservative backbencher Peter Bone telling GB News that the decision is worrying for free speech.
Meanwhile, a former minister said that "the consensus seems to be that they shouldn’t have done it", saying that the committee has "been selective" with what it intervenes in on previous occasions.
WATCH: Timeline of the allegations against Russell Brand so far
The intervention came after an investigation from the Sunday Times and Channel 4 levelled allegations of rape and sexual assault against Brand, which he denies.
Bone told GB News: "I have no wish to infer that I have any support for the gentleman in question - but I don't support the impacts on free speech either."
He described the intervention as a "very strange decision", comparing it to the closure of Nigel Farage's bank account.
The MP for Wellingborough added: "I'm not in the view of cancelling people like that. I think it's basically wrong."
Conservative MP for Mansfield, Ben Bradley, criticised the attempt to deprive someone of their income "through trial by media", rather than a court of law, saying the judicial process is being "superseded by media".
He explained: "I think it's a really dangerous precedent to set, regardless of his guilt or innocence, where someone should be deprived of their income through trial by media rather than trial by the courts.
"We have a principle of innocent until proven guilty, and of being able to be heard by a jury that is fully informed of all the facts.
"Russell Brand clearly isn't getting that right now.
"It's easy to be part of the mob, but if those rights are eroded then you won't like it when the mob turns on you.
"I don't know if he did it or not, but we have a judicial process and it's being superseded by media at the minute."
He also noted that the intervention has been wrongly seen as a government move when DCMS is an independent committee made up of cross-party MPs.
Posting on social media, Rumble said in a statement that its video site “deplores sexual assault, rape and all serious crimes” but that the allegations against Brand have “nothing to do” with its platform.
They said it was "deeply inappropriate and dangerous" for Dinenage to intervene in that manner, accusing Dinenage of condoning a "cancel culture mob".
Dinenage's letter to Rumble came after YouTube suspended monetisation from Brand's channel on the platform earlier this week, saying he has "violated" its "creator responsibility policy".
The video platform said it was taking action "to protect" its users.
A YouTube spokesperson said: "If a creator's off-platform behaviour harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action."
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YouTube suspended monetisation from Brand's channel on the platform earlier this week
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Brand has more than six million subscribers on YouTube.
Since the investigation was published, the Metropolitan Police has received a report of an alleged sexual assault in 2003.
Brand has denied all claims, saying his relationships were "always consensual".