If you were looking forward to seeing Russell Brand on his ReBirth tour in Dublin and Belfast later this month, there's bad news.

The comedian has cancelled the remaining dates on the tour - which include Dublin's Olympia Theatre on May 23rd and 24th and Belfast's Waterfront Hall on May 26th.

However, Brand does have a good excuse for the cancellation after his 71-year-old mother Barbara was involved in road traffic accident last week, leaving her with serious injuries. It is believed that she was travelling in Brand's chauffeur-driven Audi A8 when it was involved in a collision.

Brand took to Twitter with a video message to share the news, saying: “My mum’s been in a really serious road accident and has sustained what are called poly-traumatic injuries, that means numerous, life-threatening injuries.

“So, I won’t be able to do the rest of my ReBirth tour. If you’ve got tickets, they’ll be refunded or possibly rescheduled but I can’t really imagine that and I certainly can’t imagine performing at the moment, because I feel too sad and too connected to this. I apologise but obviously it’s circumstances beyond my control.”

 

He added that his mum had just finished chemotherapy a month ago and "for her to be in this situation already is very difficult."

Watch his full message below: