Tour Axed For '80s Rock Icon After He Defended Convicted Predator Russell Brand, Promoters Say

The posts, the backlash, the cancellations

Four days after a London jury convicted Russell Brand of rape and sexual assault, British rocker Ian McNabb used his own social media accounts, and accounts tied to his band The Icicle Works, to defend the comedian. He wrote that the case had been "rigged" against Brand, and went on to question the motives and the timing of the women who had accused him, according to KarloBag.eu.

The backlash was immediate. Promoter Ewan McNaught of Renegade Communions pulled three McNabb shows: The Cluny 2 in Newcastle on Nov. 25, Cottiers in Glasgow on Nov. 26, and The Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh on Nov. 27. McNaught said he could not support McNabb's posts and saw no way to continue working with him, and said he had separately learned that five more McNabb dates — not yet identified — were canceled the same day by other promoters.

A fourth date, at Backstage at the Green Hotel in Kinross on Nov. 28, was canceled by Mundell Music. Founder David Mundell told The Courier he disagreed with McNabb's comments about Brand and canceled the show for that reason. Ticket holders for the Renegade Communions shows were told to seek refunds from their original point of purchase. No new dates have been announced, and it has not been confirmed whether McNabb's full UK tour has been scrapped.

McNabb deleted his original post after the criticism spread, though screenshots kept circulating. He later posted again, saying he hadn't meant to hurt survivors of sexual abuse, that he condemned non-consensual sex and predatory behavior, and that he was taking time for personal reflection — but he did not fully walk back his defense of Brand. He repeated that he believes Brand was treated unfairly, said he agrees with some of Brand's views on the pharmaceutical industry and the military-industrial complex, and claimed, without offering evidence, that Brand's criticism of powerful social circles had influenced the outcome of his trial.

Who's who in this story

Ian McNabb is the singer and songwriter behind The Icicle Works, the Liverpool band he founded in the early 1980s; their song "Love Is a Wonderful Colour" reached the UK top 40. He has not been charged with any crime — the fallout here is professional and reputational, tied entirely to what he posted about Brand's case.

Russell Brand, 51, is the British comedian and actor who rose to fame in the early 2000s as an MTV host and stand-up comic, and later married pop star Katy Perry. He was convicted Nov. 5 at Southwark Crown Court and sentenced Nov. 9 to 10 years and six months in prison.

Ewan McNaught runs Renegade Communions, which booked McNabb's Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh dates. David Mundell founded Mundell Music, which booked the Kinross show. Scottish musician Sean Dickson of The Soup Dragons was among the other industry figures who publicly criticized McNabb's comments.

Separately, screenwriter and producer Jemima Goldsmith — Brand's former girlfriend — came forward this week with her own allegations that he subjected her to "violence, coercive control and abuse" during their relationship, which she says ended in 2014. She has not filed charges.

"Whatever women wear, wherever they go, whatever they drink, they retain the right to say no and demand justice in the criminal courts when sexual predators like you, Mr Brand, act without their consent," — Mr Justice Bennathan, sentencing Russell Brand, per The Guardian.

What the court record says

A jury found Brand guilty of raping a 21-year-old fan at his London home in 2009, after she came to his house following one of his shows and he continued having anal sex with her after she asked him to stop. He was also convicted of sexually assaulting three other women between 2004 and 2009 — grabbing one woman's breasts at a party, groping another at a radio station, and resting his head in a third woman's lap during a TV shoot. He was acquitted of two further rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault.

Mr Justice Bennathan sentenced Brand to 10 years and six months, telling him he had shown "a casual, arrogant disregard of any woman's right to say no" and had become, in the judge's words, "a sexual predator." Brand will be on the sex offenders register for life. Senior prosecutor David Roberts told the court the evidence showed Brand "to be a calculated sexual predator using his growing fame and power to create situations in which he could pursue women sexually regardless of what they wanted," according to NPR.

Brand's defense attorney, Ian Winter KC, argued his client was "a fundamentally different person today" and asked the court not to treat him as a rapist in the broader sense — a position McNabb would later echo in substance when he defended Brand publicly. Brand denied all charges throughout the trial and has said he never had non-consensual sex.

Since the verdict, London's Metropolitan Police have confirmed they are assessing two additional rape allegations against Brand, separate from the charges in this trial, according to the Los Angeles Times.

What each side has said

The judge did not hold back at sentencing. "Whatever women wear, wherever they go, whatever they drink, they retain the right to say no and demand justice in the criminal courts when sexual predators like you, Mr Brand, act without their consent," Mr Justice Bennathan said, per The Guardian.

One of the women Brand was convicted of raping described the lasting toll in a victim impact statement read to the court. "It's something I carry with me every day and it often feels never-ending," she said, according to NPR. "I doubt my ability to make good decisions and no longer trust my instinct in the way I did."

Brand showed little emotion as he was sentenced. As he was led from the dock, he told his wife, Laura, "We'll be OK." She replied, "I love you," before leaving the courtroom in tears, The Guardian reported.

McNabb has not issued any further public statement explaining why he chose to defend Brand in the first place, or whether he regrets the posts that cost him the shows.

What happens next

McNabb has not announced any new tour dates, and promoters have not said whether the rest of his UK run — including the full scope of a reported UK tour — will go ahead. In London, the Metropolitan Police are still assessing the two additional rape allegations against Brand that surfaced after his conviction, and no timeline for that review has been made public.