Andrew Callaghan apologises for sexual misbehaviour in video
The presenter of All Gas No Breaks and the forthcoming HBO documentary This Place Rules, Andrew Callaghan, has uploaded a 4-minute video to his YouTube page, and viewers are responding well to it.
Upon hearing allegations of sexual misconduct, the 25-year-old reporter, who rose to fame on Channel 5 alongside Andrew Callaghan, released a statement to the public for the first time.
Callaghan didn’t try to make excuses for his behaviour; instead, he accepted responsibility and decided to seek help via counselling and the 12-step organisation Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
When the charges surfaced 48 hours after his HBO documentary ‘This Place Rules’ premiered, the director said he had a mental health crisis. He said that “so many young people, especially young men rushed to defend me when this stuff first started coming out that this type of sex pest behaviour is normalized.”
This was a key realisation for Callaghan: “I think for a long time, I was behaving in a way that I actually thought was normal. I thought that, you know, going home from the bar alone made you a loser. I thought that persistence was a form of flattery. And I thought that you know, if at first somebody was reluctant, you know, they’re playing hard to get just try harder.”
Andrew Callaghan said he wouldn’t “invalidate anyone’s lived experience,” despite his view that some of the charges lacked necessary context. “If you feel pressured. You know, that’s just what it is. I hope that young people and young men in particular can use my mistakes to learn and move through life with a better understanding of consent” Callaghan said.
The journalist, whose major cause is fighting information illiteracy, apologised to his friends, family, and coworkers.