Calum McSwiggan was arrested following a “hate crime” that allegedly never happened.
YouTube is an amazing platform that allows people to make money off of the video content they create. This is an amazing idea, allowing for anyone to basically film their life and reap the benefits. However, some people push the moral and ethical limits of what they post on YouTube. In fact, some people may do about anything including beating themselves up and calling it a hate crime.
Calum McSwiggan is a popular YouTuber, who makes video content like “Straight Guys See My Nudes,” “Gay Guys Embarrassing Sex Secrets,” and “Gay Love Story: My Hot Australian Boyfriend.”
On Tuesday, he uploaded a photo to Instagram saying that he was recovering from a hate crime. “The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second class citizen,” he captioned a photo of himself bandaged in a hospital bed. “With three broken teeth and six stitches in my forehead, I’ve never felt so terrified to be a gay man in the public eye.”
However, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that deputies responded to the scene of the alleged hate crime early Monday and “were unable to substantiate the assault.” In fact, they said McSwiggan “had no visible injuries” when he was arrested around 2:30 a.m. Monday “after deputies observed him vandalizing a car.” He was charged with vandalism with property damage greater than $400 and held on $20,000 bail.
“Mr. McSwiggan’s booking photo was taken prior to deputies seeing Mr. McSwiggan injuring himself,” according to the sheriff’s department statement. The photo shows no visible injuries.
To add insult to injury, McSwiggan “was then observed injuring himself with the handle and receiver to a payphone” alone inside his jail cell at the West Hollywood Station. He was taken to the hospital for treatment, sheriff’s officials said in a statement.
Another YouTuber, Riyadh Khalif, who attended the club with McSwiggan but didn’t witness the attack, tweeted that the attackers “knew where we were going to be because of our posts on social media before we went out and even said our names as they beat him.”
Via Boston Herald
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