Gay YouTuber Charged for False Report, Insists Hate Crime Account Is True

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office charged YouTuber Calum McSwiggan today with one misdeameanor count of filing a false report of a criminal offense.

McSwiggan is scheduled to be arraigned today at the Airport Courthouse in Los Angeles, and if convicted he will a maxiumum sentence of 364 days in jail.

Meanwhile, McSwiggan spoke out about allegations from the Sheriff's Department that he injured himself after being arrested for vandalizing a car Wednesday.

The gay YouTuber published a photo online Tuesday, claiming in the caption that he was attacked by three men outside of a gay club. However, that story came into question after the police released a statement saying they witnessed McSwiggan beating himself in the face with a payphone receiver in a holding cell. Police also released a booking photo that showed McSwiggan had no injuries on his face when he was arrested earlier that night.

McSwiggan, 26, maintained his innocence in a Facebook post published today, saying "just because there were no visible marks on my face does not mean I was not attacked." McSwiggan claimed "I only hurt myself to get out of the jail cell."

McSwiggan, who described feeling "heartbroken about the events and these have been the worst few days of my life," addressed the charge that his story about being attacked outside of a gay club was fabricated. "Many people are trying to discredit my story but this is the full and entire truth," he wrote. McSwiggan claimed a man had flirted with him, lured him to a dark parking lot, then punched him in the mouth. "I blacked out quickly after this but remember being kicked in the body multiple times, I believe by all three men," he wrote.

When he came to, McSwiggan said the car he believed to be the attacker's was still there, so he vandalized it in revenge.

"Being accused of being a liar and being called a disgrace to the LGBT+ community, a community I've dedicated my life to, is more painful than any hate crime could ever be," he wrote.

Read McSwiggan's post in full below: