ANDREW Callaghan rose to fame as a YouTuber and has also featured on a number of TV shows.
He has been accused of sexual misconduct by two women.
Who is Andrew Callaghan?
Born on April 23, 1997, Callaghan is an American journalist.
He rose to fame on his YouTube channels All Gas No Breaks and Channel 5, with the allegations first arising in January 2023.
Callaghan has previously said he “hated every class from the first day of kindergarten to [his] last day of college” apart for a journalism class he took in his junior year of high school.
He later studied journalism on a full scholarship at Loyola University in New Orleans and wrote for the student newspaper.
While working as a doorman on New Orleans’ famous party strip, Bourbon Street, he saw what he described as “hellish scenes” and wanted a way to document them.
Having quit his job he started interviewing people on the streets of the city about their darkest secrets when they were intoxicated and made a series out of them called Quarter Confessions and posted them on YouTube and Instagram.
What is All Gas No Brakes?
Callaghan’s next project came in 2019 with his “memoir-zine” called All Gas, No Brakes: A Hitchhiker’s Diary where he told stories from his 70-day hitchhiking trip across America that he undertook two years earlier at the age of 19.
That idea then became a YouTube series, All Gas No Brakes which began just before he started his journalism studies.
He then started a podcast series called All Gas No Brakes in response to the travel restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Callaghan announced in March 2021 that he and his team were no longer involved with the production of All Gas No Brakes nor the TV adaptation which was being developed.
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In an Instagram post he wrote: “I am no longer associated with All Gas No Brakes.
“I no longer receive any of the Patreon crowdfunding, YouTube monetization, or any other show income.
“Nic and Evan, who lived in the RV and created the original show material, are also no longer involved.
“We have no control over the accounts or future of the show.
“When I was 20, I wrote a book called All Gas No Brakes about hitchhiking around America as a teenager.
“At 21, I pitched the idea of a video-based road show to a production company, who loaned me an RV to make videos and explore America with my best friends.
“I was ecstatic, so I signed an employment contract without reading it. Lesson learned.
|Thank you for supporting me these past years. It’s been the time of my life. I can’t wait to show you guys what I’m doing next.”
What is Channel 5 on YouTube?
Callaghan started releasing content for Channel 5 through Patreon on April 5, 2021.
The web channel, which is also known as Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, is not related to the British network TV station Channel 5 and is billed as a “digital journalism experience”.
The show is essentially a spin off from All Gas No Brakes and uses the same core members of the crew.
The first episode was uploaded to YouTube on April 11, 2021, and documented spring breakers in Miami.
After being accused of spreading Covid-19 misinformation it was taken down but reinstated five days later.
What are the charges against Andrew Callaghan?
Claims of sexual misconduct by Callaghan from two women first emerged in January 2023.
He is accused of putting pressure on two women to have sex with him.
A woman named Caroline Elise said he had “worn her down” into having sex with him after she had offered him somewhere to stay for the night.
She added: “Just because eventually I said ok… because I was trying to just get the whole night over with so that it could be morning so that he could leave, it doesn’t discount the fact that I told him no so many times prior.
“I said ‘I’m tired, I’m not really feeling it’, I came up with any excuse that I possibly could to just get him off of me, and he still found a way to coerce me into things that I didn’t want to do.”
Elise said seeing him online and on TV now means she is forced to “relive the trauma”.
She added: “You shouldn’t be supporting him.”
A second TikToker then came forward to claim that she had told Callaghan “multiple” times to stop after he “advanced” towards her, touching her thigh, and kissing her neck during a car ride.
“He tried to put my hand down his pants multiple times, and I was, you know, fighting against him during this,” she added.
The accuser called him “mean” and “demanding” after they had earlier “hooked up”.
Callaghan responded to the accusations in a five-minute video posted on YouTube.
In it he said he would get professional treatment for his past behaviour.
Callaghan said in the footage: “I hadn’t realized I had had this pattern that had affected multiple people. I’d like to apologize for my silence. When this stuff first came out, I was in a state of denial and shock.
“I was denounced by my closest collaborators and my name was printed in 40 different news outlets, next to the words ‘sexual misconduct.’
“I just kind of spiraled into a mental health crisis. I’m okay now, but I don’t really think this is about me.
“This is about the people I’ve affected. So I just want to express my complete sympathy, support and respect for anyone that I’ve done wrong by.
“I really want to do better and be fully accountable for everything that I’ve done.”
Callaghan also stated that several stories about him online are “not true” and “missing important contextual information.”
He said that he would start therapy sessions and the 12-step program for Alcoholics Anonymous, taking a “serious step back from public life.”
At the end of the footage, Callaghan also issues an apology to his collaborators and friends, saying: “You guys don’t deserve this and I love you guys. That said, If you never want to watch Channel 5 again, I understand.”
