Russell Brand has announced Friday that he will not be attending SXSW as scheduled.

Russell Brand Calls Off SXSW Appearance

Brand was scheduled to help kick off the SXSW festival with the premiere of a documentary about the comedian, titled Brand: A Second Coming, and the delivery of a keynote speech. However, hours before the premiere of the documentary, Brand announced that he would be skipping the event entirely with a lengthy statement on his website.

According to the comedian/actor/activist, the documentary, which was filmed over seven years and directed by Ondi Timoner, is just too personal to experience with an audience.

“You’d think a narcissist would like nothing more than talking about themselves and their ‘rags to riches,’ ‘hard luck’ story but actually, it felt like, to me, my life was hard enough the first time round and going through it again was painful and sad,” Brand wrote.

The documentary process began when Brand was just breaking out into comedy as a sober, “recovering junkie.” The film went through years of creative ups and downs, with a string of different directors attached until Timoner finally took control, and limited Brand’s creative input. While Brand’s decision to pull out of his scheduled appearance could be seen as a sign of him distancing himself from the documentary, Brand said in his statement that the film itself isn’t the cause for his cancellation.

“I know Ondi is an artist and I’m told the film is good but for me watching it was very uncomfortable,” Brand added.

Brand: A Second Coming

The cancellation might come as a shock to fans attending SXSW, but Timoner likely isn’t too surprised. In an interview earlier this week, Timoner revealed that Brand had seen the documentary and that it had, in fact, been a very painful experience for him. “He watched it and he had a hard time, really hard time with it,” Timoner told Indiewire.

Brand: A Second Coming is still scheduled to premiere Friday, March 13, at the Paramount Theatre and is also scheduled to be screened Sunday, March 15 and Tuesday, March 17. Brand’s keynote speech was scheduled for Tuesday, March 17, and intended to cover Brand’s YouTube show, Trews, and his new book, Revolution. No event has been added to take its place.