Andrew Callaghan, the popular indie filmmaker known for his Channel 5 YouTube videos and recent “This Place Rules” documentary, has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in the last week. Callaghan has yet to publicly address the allegations, but comedian Tim Heidecker, who produced “This Place Rules” with his comedy partner Eric Wareheim, said they have “no plans” to work with Callaghan in the future.
Heidecker condemned Callaghan’s alleged behavior Thursday at the beginning of his “Office Hours” podcast.
“It’s been a very painful week for us, a very difficult experience to process,” Heidecker said. “We didn’t want to just rush out and say something that felt insincere or a ‘crisis person told us what to say’ kind of thing. We just wanted to wrap our heads around it and talk about it and try to understand it more. Of course, we’re aware of the allegations. We take them very seriously. It’s been very sad and disappointing, to say the least. I just want to clarify a couple things. We have no professional relationship with Andrew at this time and have no plans going forward to have any relationship with him.”
In early January, a woman posted a TikTok video alleging that Callaghan had stayed at her house and propositioned her for sex multiple times. “[He] eventually got my consent because he wore me down,” said Caroline Elise on her TikTok account @cornbreadasserole. “It’s even more hard to have to relive the trauma that I endured every single day by seeing this man as a social justice warrior, as someone who cares about human rights, get a platform. You shouldn’t be supporting him.”
Shortly after Elise’s allegations made waves on TikTok, another woman named Dana, on her TikTok account @moldyfreckle, alleged that Callaghan pressured her to have sex in her car after a previous sexual encounter that she found “mean” and “demeaning.” “I told him to stop. I told him to get off of me multiple times,” she says in the video. “He tried to put my hand down his pants and I was fighting against him during this, telling him to please stop.”
HBO acquired “This Place Rules” last fall and released it on Dec. 30 on HBO Max. Heidecker and Wareheim produced the documentary alongside Jonah Hill and A24. Through their Abso Lutely Productions, Heidecker and Wareheim had previously been working on a television series with Callaghan in 2020, though it fell through.
“Our role with him is we produced the film that a lot of you guys have seen,” Heidecker said on Thursday. “There’s been a little confusion about the Channel 5 name. That’s Andrew’s name, Channel 5. It has nothing to do with Eric and I. It’s been a bit of confusion for us as well. We did produce the movie, and I feel terrible that this film now has these allegations tied to it because some very good people worked very hard on it. But it’s just a movie, and I want to say we believe these women that came forward and, of course, totally condemn the type of behavior that Andrew’s being accused of. I believe it’s up to Andrew to address these allegations and do so openly and honestly. I really hope he does do that as soon as possible.”
Callaghan is best known for his man-on-the-street interviews posted to his YouTube account, Channel 5, where he interviews conspiracy theorists, protesters, music festival partiers and many other odd characters.
Watch Heidecker’s video below.
