Allegations of sexual impropriety by a popular leftist journalist broke out into the open this week. Two women claim that Andrew Callaghan of All Gas No Brakes, Channel 5, and the recent HBO Max documentary This Place Rules sexually abused them. Neither Callaghan nor HBO Max responded to requests for comment.
Additional, secondhand reports of misconduct by Callaghan have surfaced since the stories the two women posted on TikTok went viral.
Meanwhile, Callaghan and a subreddit dedicated to Callaghan and Channel 5 appear to have gone into damage control.
The Daily Dot has confirmed two posts have been removed from r/Channel5ive, one of which makes sexual misconduct allegations against Callaghan and the other against a member of his crew. There are also claims that comments on Callaghan’s Instagram account have been deleted in the wake of the accusations against him.
Late last night, a redditor posted on Channel5ive that the allegations against Callaghan are true, noting she experienced them as well. By this morning, the post had disappeared. Only the title remains.
A notice below the now-deleted post reads, “Sorry, this post has been removed by the moderators of r/Channel5ive. Moderators remove posts from feeds for a variety of reasons, including keeping communities safe, civil, and true to their purpose.”
The moderators of Channel5ive didn’t respond to inquiries sent Wednesday.
Also last night, the same redditor wrote a post with an extremely similar title in a subreddit dedicated to Ethan Klein’s podcast. In that post, the redditor alleged that Callaghan coerced her into sex.
The subreddit dedicated to Klein’s show has discussed the allegations against Callaghan extensively in recent days.
The Daily Dot isn’t identifying the redditor’s handle because she didn’t respond to a request for comment and was allegedly sexually mistreated. She appears to have deleted what remained of the post on Channel5ive after the Daily Dot contacted her. She also edited her post on the other subreddit to express fears of being doxed.
The woman wrote that she spent time with Callaghan when he performed in her town.
“We hung out one night, had a good time, nothing sexual happened beyond kissing & I felt comfortable seeing him again,” she wrote. “I told him multiple times that I was not wanting to have sex or do anything that night and he listened.”
She described a far different experience the second time she saw him a few days later. She wrote that he invited her to his RV where she said he almost immediately asked her for sex. She said that she again told him she wasn’t sure but he persisted.
This behavior mirrors that described by the two TikTokers who have accused Callaghan.
“I repeatedly stated that I didn’t know if I wanted to, and that I really didn’t think I wanted to have sex,” the redditor wrote. “He continued to pressure me, and ask me to blow him or have sex with him.”
The redditor claims that she consented to give Callaghan a blow job in the hopes that he stop asking for sex.
“While I did that, he called one of the men he worked with to tell him he needed a condom. He then continued to ask me to have sex until I gave in,” she wrote. “After so many requests, I felt it was the only option. I remember disassociating hoping it would just end soon.”
According to the redditor, she was very uncomfortable about what happened and saw him again in the hopes that it made her feel better.
“I was so embarrassed, as I was a huge fan and couldn’t believe it had gone so wrong,” she wrote.
She also said that she doesn’t believe Callaghan is “irredeemable” but said “accountability and change” are necessary.
A separate redditor claimed that Channel5ive removed their post that contained accusations of sexual misconduct by a member of Callaghan’s crew.
“Channel 5 removed this screenshot of allegations,” the redditor wrote in Klein’s subreddit. “They removed it for low karma/new account… I have neither of those things. They’re censoring potential victims?”
Others who’ve posted on Channel5ive about Callaghan in recent days have less karma. Other recent posts the user made on Channel 5ive haven’t been removed.
There are many posts and comments about the accusations against Callaghan on the subreddit, including by the mods themselves. The removed posts are unique in that each leveled additional allegations against Callaghan and his crew.
Redditors in comments noted that each deleted post generated a message from a bot indicating that it was automatically removed due to “low karma and/or low account age.” Neither redditors’ ages are known—but one has karma levels higher than others who have posted recently and hasn’t had other posts removed from Channel5ive.
It is possible that the subreddit is set up to allow users and/or visitors to flag content believed to violate the community standards, and the posts were automatically deleted due to the page’s settings after someone reported them. It’s not clear whether the moderators played any role in removing the posts.
There are separate claims that comments are being deleted from Callaghan’s Instagram.
On Sunday, as accusations against him gained traction online, someone commented on his most recent post, “Still no word about the allegations, and now comments are getting deleted. So disappointing.”
Update 8:23am CT, Jan. 12: After publication, a new mod on Channel5ive posted on the subreddit, saying that “one of the mods here removed a bunch of posts without any explanation, then left.”
