Comedy Bang! Bang! Drops Reggie Watts Theme Song After Rolling Stone Allegations
The Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast replaced Reggie Watts' theme song with a generic voice reading the episode number on its Monday instalment, following a Rolling Stone report detailing accusations of drug-encouragement and abusive behaviour against Watts in his relationships.
Rolling Stone published the report on 24 August 2026. It centres on Katherine McCollough, Watts' late ex-girlfriend, who died by suicide in March. Loved ones told the magazine that Watts encouraged McCollough to take heavy quantities of drugs — particularly ketamine — throughout their relationship, and that she would not have developed a ketamine addiction, and would still be alive, had she never met him.
According to the same report, friends said they witnessed abusive aspects of the relationship, including financial dependence and Watts allegedly withholding emotional support from McCollough. Watts ended the relationship in October after McCollough suffered a drug-induced manic episode the previous summer.
Rolling Stone also spoke with five women who previously dated Watts. Three of them claimed he encouraged them to take drugs, including ketamine. Two alleged he pushed past their boundaries to satisfy his own needs. One woman said Watts recorded an explicit video of her without consent. Another said he initiated sex without a condom despite an implicit agreement to always use protection, after disclosing that he had an STD.
Watts is described in Rolling Stone's reporting as a self-declared psychonaut and psychedelic evangelist whose fondness for ketamine is not a secret. Through his attorney Andrew Brettler, Watts said any suggestion that he was an "abusive" boyfriend was false but did not address the individual women's accusations directly. Brettler called it "dangerously false" to suggest Watts was responsible for McCollough's suicide, and pushed back on the drug-encouragement claims by stating McCollough was already an "experienced" drug user before dating Watts.
The professional fallout has been swift. Alongside the theme-song removal, Watts was pulled from the line-ups of the Shambala and Greenbelt Festivals, both in Northamptonshire, England. A representative for Greenbelt confirmed he would no longer appear. A set of Watts' shows with the band CAPYAC in Bristol was also cancelled, with no acknowledgment from the venue or the parties involved.
Variety, reporting the theme-song removal, described the Rolling Stone allegations as citing "reckless and selfish" behaviour in Watts' relationships.
Watts remains listed on the Monterey Jazz Festival's artist page for a scheduled performance on 26 September 2026. On 4 August, before the report was published, he announced a new collaboration on his official Facebook account, writing that "some places can only be visited through sonic vibrations."
