Calum McSwiggan ordered to appear before US court over fake hate crime charges
By Will Stroude
, the British YouTuber who allegedly faked being injured in an anti-gay hate crime, has been summoned to appear before courts in the US.
The 26-year-old internet personality was charged with filing a false police report after claiming he was attacked by three men outside West Hollywood gay club The Abbey last month (June 27).
McSwiggan was due to appear in the Los Angeles International Airport Courthouse yesterday (July 19) for a preliminary hearing, but was unable to attend due to a family holiday in Spain.
Commissioner Jane Godfrey said he must return to California on September 26, when his pre-trial hearing will take place.
McSwiggan has previously pleaded not guilty to the charge.
On the left: the photo McSwiggan uploaded to Instagram after the alleged “hate crime”.
Following the alleged attack last month, which came to light after McSwiggan took to Instagram to share a picture of his injuries, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department revealed that they had investigated his claim, but were “unable to substantiate the assault” as he had “no visible injuries”.
It was during the call out to the alleged attack that McSwiggan, who has over 63,000 YouTube subscribers, was arrested after officers witnessed him vandalising a car. The London-based vlogger later admitted to further injuring himself while in jail in order to be moved to a hospital to receive treatment.
I've been told to say nothing before court tomorrow but staying silent here is killing us. If you're a friend just DM me for the truth.
— Calum McSwiggan (@CalumMcSwiggan) June 29, 2016
Despite being charged with filing a false report, McSwiggan has stuck by his story, saying that while he did indeed injure himself following his arrest, the original attack was real.
“I think if somebody is a victim of a crime, that person should be given the benefit of the doubt and believed,” he previously said, adding that he felt “shocked and upset” that he has had criminal charges against him.
“Just because there are no physical markings on my face other than the broken teeth, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t assaulted, and that is why the police think I wasn’t assaulted,” he cotinued.
Previously, one of the men McSwiggan claimed attacked him, Damien Nichols, commented on his original hospital bed photo disputing the story, saying:
“WTF Man! You were smashing people’s cars, you keyed my friends car! You stole a f*cking bottle from the abbey. No one beat you up! You were the one acting crazy! You need to apologise for this, honestly we have gay bashing all over this world, every day. Young men and women are killed for being gay. Don’t cry wolf!”
McSwiggan is scheduled to appear at a pre-trial hearing in LA on September 26. The case continues.
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