Andrew Callaghan, YouTuber and gonzo journalist behind All Gas No Brakes, Channel 5, and the new HBO documentary This Place Rules, is a fairly well-known internet personality who first made the news for his book about hitchhiking across America at the age of 19. But recent allegations have potentially revealed a darker side to Callaghan.
On January 6, Caroline Elise (a.k.a. cornbreadasserole) posted a TikTok in which she alleged that the 25-year-old Callaghan pressured her into having sex after she allowed him to stay overnight in her home in March 2021. “He told me he needed a place to stay for the night. He had some sort of falling out with one of his crew members or whatever and I was very clear about the fact that we are not hooking up,” Caroline said. When she attempted to come forward before, Caroline says she received texts from Callaghan, who told her the allegations would ruin his life. When she met Callaghan on another occasion, Elise says he attempted to get her to drink more.
Soon after, a woman who goes by the name DJ (a.k.a. moldyfreckle posted a series of TikToks in which she detailed a similar incident that allegedly occurred sometime in 2018 or 2019. In her videos, DJ says she met and had consensual sex with Callaghan, but that he was “mean, demanding,” and made her feel uncomfortable. DJ says that when Callaghan later asked to see her again, she initially declined but ultimately agreed when Callaghan said he wanted to apologize for his previous behavior. While sitting in her car, DJ alleges that Callaghan repeatedly pressured her for sex, refused to get out of the car when she asked him to do so, and sexually assaulted her.
From there, numerous allegations from the past and present have surfaced. Multiple instagram stories from 2020 and 2021 were unearthed, and the comments on the TikTok videos are filled with similar claims, all of which detail a similar pattern of behavior involving sexual harassment and/or targeting girls who are drunk and/or underage. Some also claim his behavior was an “open secret in the New Orleans graffiti scene.” Most of these accounts are anonymous, though the first two TikToks are public accounts.
Hasan Piker’s subreddit has collected the allegations in a single post here. Callaghan has yet to respond to the allegations.
Why now?
Some have asked why these women are choosing to come forward now that Callaghan has gained additional notoriety from his HBO documentary, which premiered on December 30, 2022. But that is the reason they are coming forward now. Caroline Elise stated in her TikTok video that she “doesn’t like seeing abusers get platforms and [her] abuser … has been plastered all over [her] news feed.”
In one of her TikTok videos, DJ explains that she had blocked and largely ignored Callaghan after the alleged incident, but that it became much harder to do so when his documentary was being promoted everywhere.
(featured image: HBO)
