Love is love.
LA TIMES: An openly gay YouTube star who said that he was brutally assaulted by three men in West Hollywood was charged Wednesday with filing a false police report.
Los Angeles County prosecutors allege that Calum McSwiggan, known by thousands of fans for his YouTube channel on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, knowingly lied when he told sheriff’s deputies that he was beaten early Monday.
McSwiggan, a resident of London who was visiting Southern California, was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. If convicted, he faces up to 364 days in county jail.
The charge marks the latest chapter in a drama that has played out on the online star’s social media platforms — and with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department publicly releasing a statement and photo that rebutted McSwiggan’s allegations.
McSwiggan wrote in an Instagram post that after visiting a gay club, three men attacked him. He said he suffered three broken teeth and required six stitches in his forehead.
“The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second-class citizen,” McSwiggan wrote in his post, which showed him in a hospital with bandages affixed to his forehead.
“I’ve never felt so terrified to be a gay man in the public eye.”
The Sheriff’s Department confirmed that deputies responded early Monday to McSwiggan’s report of assault after leaving a West Hollywood nightclub. But deputies at the scene “were unable to substantiate the assault,” according to a statement.
Deputies then placed McSwiggan, 26, under arrest about 2:30 a.m. Monday after he allegedly vandalized a car along Santa Monica Boulevard near Robertson Boulevard, in the heart of the city’s LGBT nightlife district.
McSwiggan was booked on a count of vandalism with property damage greater than $400 and held on $20,000 bail, according to jail records.
Before being placed in his jail cell, deputies had McSwiggan stand for a booking photo, which appears to show no obvious injuries.
Once inside a solo jail cell, McSwiggan “was then observed injuring himself with the handle and receiver to a payphone,” sheriff’s officials said in a statement.
He was taken to the hospital for treatment. McSwiggan was released from custody just before 9:15 p.m. Monday with a citation to appear in court.
