WEST HOLLYWOOD—British YouTube star, Calum McSwiggan pleaded not guilty to charges of vandalism and that he filed a false police report alleging he was attacked after leaving The Abbey in West Hollywood. McSwiggan alleged that he was attacked by three men near The Abbey, a gay club on June 27. On Monday, September 26, he appeared in Los Angeles County Superior Court at LAX where he entered his plea.
He is ordered to return for a pre-trial hearing on November 7. He is currently free on a $200,000 bail. McSwiggan, 26, who has more than 64,000 subscribers on YouTube posted a photo on Instagram showing him laying in a hospital bed after the alleged attack. He told his followers that he suffered three broken teeth, and required six stitches to his head.
“After one of the most wonderful weekends at VidCon we went out to a gay club to celebrate, and towards the end of the evening I was separated from my friends and beaten up by three guys,” McSwiggan said in his Facebook post.
“The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second class citizen,” McSwiggan said on Facebook. “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.”
According to The Telegraph, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said officers investigated, but were “unable to substantiate the assault.”
McSwiggan had been arrested for vandalising a car and was taken to the hospital after he began injuring himself with a police station payphone while in custody.
“Just because there were no visible marks on my face does not mean I was not attacked. Being accused of being a liar and being called a disgrace to the LGBT+ community, a community I’ve dedicated my life to, is more painful than any hate crime could ever be,” said McSwiggan.
The YouTube sensation’s allegation of being beaten has been reported on various gay sites such as Towerload, the UK’s PinkNews and LGBTQ Nation. According to reports, friends of McSwiggan alleged that the attack was premeditated and carried out by people who followed McSwiggan on social media, with many claiming that the alleged attack was a gay hate crime.