YouTube Personality Charged With Making False Report Of Hate Crime At WeHo Bar

WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) — A popular YouTube personality was charged Wednesday with making a false report after alleging he was assaulted in a hate crime outside a club in West Hollywood.

Calum McSwiggan, 26, of London, faces one misdemeanor count of false report to a peace officer that a felony was committed when he claimed in an Instagram post dated June 27 that he was attacked while at The Abbey in WeHo.

He faces a possible maximum sentence of up to a year in county jail if convicted as charged.

According to the Instagram post - which depicts McSwiggan laying in a hospital bed with apparent injuries to his face and neck - towards the end of the evening he "was separated from [his] friends and beaten up by three guys" after attending the VidCon video conference in Anaheim.

"The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second class citizen," McSwiggan wrote. "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."

But according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, responding deputies "were unable to substantiate the assault" and found McSwiggan had "no visible injuries".

He was later arrested after deputies observed him vandalizing a car in the 8900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, according to the Sheriff's Department.

Following his arrest, McSwiggan was booked and placed into a cell by himself at the LASD West Hollywood Station, where deputies say he was observed
injuring himself with the handle and receiver of a pay phone located inside the cell.

He was then transported to a local hospital for treatment.

McSwiggan has over 62,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, which features racy content and a confession by McSwiggan to appearing in a gay porn video.

KCAL9's Peter Daut spoke to West Hollywood residents who said McSwiggan flat out lied.

"It's all completely made up," said Damien Nichols. He said that he and his friends with with McSwiggan Monday night.

He told Daut that McSwiggan was drunk and acting violently after leaving the bar and then scratched his friend's Lexus, ripped off a side view mirror, and even crumpled up the license plate.

"He destroyed someone else's car, and then he tells the police and tells the media that the person's car he destroyed is beating him up? Absurd," Nichols said.

Moreover, Nichols is also gay and was highly offended that after Orlando, that a gay man would make up a hate crime.

"It's inexcusable," Nichols said.

On Facebook Wednesday, McSwiggen admitted that he hit himself in the face with the payphone -- because he was desperate to get to a hospital and insists he was attacked. He also admitted to vandalizing the Lexus.

Daut reached out for a comment, and did not hear back.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.