BREAKING: Calum McSwiggan’s Assault Called into Question

June 28, 2016
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Calum McSwiggan's Assault Claims Questioned by Police

This has been a truly crazy news day for gay YouTube star Calum McSwiggan, who is receiving national press for an alleged attack he suffered while in West Hollywood on Sunday. Yesterday, the 26-year-old put up an Instagram post recounting a beating he endured by three men while attending VidCon festivities. The accompanying picture shows a bandaged and distressed McSwiggan in a hospital bed. However, local police are now questioning the events surrounding Calum McSwiggan's allegations, with some authorities believing that the event was fabricated.

Here's McSwiggan's Instagram post in full:

Last night was the worst night of my life and I'm really struggling to find the words to talk about it. 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. The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second class citizen. 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. All I can do is thank my wonderful friends@riyadhk, @melaniiemurphy and@douga_ for being with me the whole way. I'd be lost without them. Right now I don't feel that I'm in the right place to talk about this but I will be addressing this fully in the future.

The event happened in the parking lot of popular gay club The Abbey. According to Capt. Holly Perez, the officers who examined Calum found no sign of an attack, and while questioning bystanders at the scene, police officers witnessed the star rip off the rear view mirror of a car and begin using it to scratch off the car paint. This landed McSwiggan in a holding cell, where he was observed trying to inflict harm on himself.

New information continues to come in from Calum's friends, with some of the various accounts of the night's events not aligning. We noticed that in his post Calum writes that he "was separated" from his friends, while fellow social media personality Riyadh Khalaf writes on Twitter:

These people 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

— Riyadh Khalaf (@RiyadhK) June 28, 2016

This implies that Calum was not alone in the parking lot. Whatever the case may be, none of the outcomes here are good. Either Calum McSwiggan was the victim of a heinous crime, or he's working the media - either from mental illness or for publicity. We'll keep you update as the story develops.