By Jacob Costello

I first saw Andrew Callaghan on the YouTube channel “All Gas No Breaks.” I was instantly intrigued by his lanky frame, wild mop of red hair, and signature ill-fitting brown suit. His early work complimented his goofy appearance. Callaghan went to beach parties, music festivals, porn conventions, NASCAR races, pretty much any place where people would be drinking and/or saying outlandish things. While I got a lot of entertainment from these zany gatherings and the characters he would find, what I really began to enjoy was his coverage of protests, demonstrations, and political events.

After a legal dispute over the ownership of “All Gas No Breaks,” Callaghan would create a new channel called “Channel Five.” I feel this marked a step into more journalistic work. He would still interview Phish fans huffing nitrous gas in the parking lot of the concert, but he also began to go to political rallies and other more serious events. Callaghan covered the War in Ukraine, the Derek Chauvin trial verdict, and many other stories that were a far cry from his humble roots of interviewing drunk college students on Bourbon Street. What I loved about his coverage is how he would interview anybody who was willing to talk to him. At every one of these locations, he would interview “normal” people, or at least as normal as you can get at a convention for people who like to dress up in fur suits.

Callaghan’s 2022 documentary “This Place Rules,” contains some of his best reporting. The documentary follows the young journalist travelling across America in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election. After the election, he begins to cover the “Stop the Steal” protests and interviews inflammatory figures like Alex Jones. Callaghan never fails to bring a human element to these stories, my favorite of which is when he spends time with a family who has completely bought into the Q Anon conspiracy. His interviews with the young children are the most impactful, who have begun to parrot the conspiracies that their parents fed to them.

Callaghan explained his journalistic style of “radical empathy” to Alina Selyukh in an interview on NPR.

“The goal of the film was to really talk to people without a pre-loaded agenda, not trying to slam dunk or find the dumbest person there and make them feel small or catch them in a lie or a contradiction. But to actually try to apply some empathy and really talk to some of these folks and figure out why it is that they feel this way,” said Callaghan.

Callaghan’s journalism reminds me a lot of Hunter S. Thompson and his gonzo journalism. They both traverse America finding unique stories that haven’t been told yet. Four months ago, I would have said Callaghan and Thompson were two of my favorite journalists. However, information came to light in January that showed a side of Callaghan that most did not know about.

Days after the release of his documentary on HBO, multiple women came forward on social media claiming Callaghan had pressured them into sex while drinking. He responded two weeks later, saying he never assaulted anyone but he apologized for his pushy behavior. He also said he knows these incidents occurred under the influence and would be committing to the 12 Step Program. That was the last the internet saw of Andrew Callaghan.

Callaghan’s talent as an interviewer and a journalist is undeniable, but his reprehensible behavior will always taint my view of him. I am skeptical if he will return to journalism, but if he does will people forgive him? Will I forgive him? I wish I had the answer.

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