Andrew Callaghan, whose latest venture into the world of conspiracy theories, the cult of MAGA, and the January 6 insurrection, This Place Rules, premiered on HBO a few weeks ago, has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. The allegations surfaced on TikTok, where two women relayed detailed stories about their sexual experiences with Callaghan, which they describe as coercive.
TikToker Caroline Elise (@cornbreadasserole) posted a video last week accusing Callaghan of pushing her into sex. In the video, she says that Callaghan asked her for a place to stay after he had a falling out with his crew. When he arrived at her apartment, Elise told him she was not interested in having sex with him. However, he invited himself into her bed during the night, and she finally consented to sex after he “wore me down,” she said. “I said whatever because I was trying to get the whole thing over with. It doesn’t discount that I told him no. [He] still found a way to coerce me into doing things I didn’t want to do.”
“It’s even more hard to have to relive the trauma that I endured every single day by seeing this man as a social justice warrior, as someone who cares about human rights, get a platform,” Elise says. “You shouldn’t be supporting him.” Elise said that she planned to go public, but Callaghan pleaded with her not to, saying it would “ruin [his] life.”
Following Elise’s accusations, a TikToker named Dana (@moldyfreckle) posted a series of videos on January 8, detailing her experience with Callaghan pressuring her into sex. “I had hooked up with Andrew previously,” she says. “He creeped me out, made me feel weird, was mean [and] demanding.”
After refusing to hang out with Callaghan again, Dana told him how uncomfortable he made her. She claims that Callaghan invited her to dinner so he could apologize. At dinner, Callaghan asked her to have sex with him in her car numerous times. She declined but agreed to drive him home because he lived nearby. She says she made it clear that she “did not want to have sex with him again ever.”
“After we got to my car, he started advancing toward me, touching my inner thigh and pulled me forward and started kissing my neck, so I really couldn’t move out of the position,” she said. “He was holding me tightly. He proceeded to put his hand down my pants. I told him to stop. I told him to get off of me multiple times. He tried to put my hand down his pants. I was fighting against him during this, telling him to please stop.”
Dana alleges that Callaghan said, “You could at least suck my dick.” At that point, she told him to get out of her car. “He just got mad, really,” she said. “He was mad that I would even say that, but at the same time, he was laughing at me and continued to try and kiss me.” He refused to get out of the car, so she started driving “quickly and eratictly,” hoping to draw attention to the vehicle. She told him to get out again, and he finally relented. Dana claims she never saw or talked to him again.
As pointed out by Paste, the Callaghan-focused subreddit /r/Channel5ive has chronicled numerous accusations against him and examples of others backing up the accusers’ stories. Elise and Dana also shared examples of DMs and selfies to prove their relationship with Callaghan.
Callaghan rose to fame on the internet via his documentary series All Gas No Breaks, wherein he traveled the country in an RV, speaking to people at political rallies, conspiracy theorist conventions, and protests. After Callaghan left the show due to contract disputes, he formed Channel 5 News, a YouTube and Patreon series that followed a similar format. His first film, This Place Rules, focused on the January 6 insurrection and premiered on HBO Max on December 30, 2022.
Neither Andrew Callaghan nor his representatives responded to The A.V. Club’s requests for comment.
[via Rolling Stone]