Andrew Callaghan apologizes after being accused of sexual misconduct, saying he's starting therapy and AA

• "All Gas No Breaks" creator Andrew Callaghan responded to allegations of sexual misconduct.
• In a YouTube video, the filmmaker thanked his accusers for making him aware of his patterns.

Popular YouTube creator Andrew Callaghan has responded to allegations of sexual misconduct against him, saying he's thankful to those who spoke out and that he's dedicated to working on himself through therapy and an Alcoholics Anonymous program.

"I'd like to start by thanking every single person who has come out in the past week to speak about different ways my behavior has made them feel uncomfortable or pressured during a sexual situation," Callaghan, the maker of the video series "All Gas No Breaks" and "Channel5 News," said in a YouTube video published on Sunday.

"To be honest with you, up until this point, I didn't even really realize I had this pattern that affected multiple people," he added.

The 25-year-old, whose videos exposing ideologies in far-right groups helped him gain internet attention in 2020, made headlines last week when two Rolling Stone stories detailed accounts from several women who said they felt pressured into sex acts with Callaghan.

One woman, under the pseudonym Charlotte, told Rolling Stone that she went on a coffee date with Callaghan at age 18. At an apartment afterward, "he wasn't taking a simple no for an answer," she said. "Consequently, it turned into me trying to make up an array of excuses as to why I didn't want to have sex," she said.

Another woman who goes by Caroline Elise on TikTok, where she first posted about her encounters with Callaghan, told Rolling Stone she eventually gave in to his demands for sex but remained traumatized by it.

Seattle's The Stranger also reported similar allegations against Callaghan.

After the initial allegations, Callaghan's lawyer responded Thursday, telling Variety, "Andrew is devastated that he is being accused of any type of physical or mental coercion against anyone. Conversations about pressure and consent are extremely important and Andrew wants to have these conversations, so he can continue to learn and grow."

But after Rolling Stone's latest story, published Friday, Callaghan addressed the allegations directly in a 4-minute YouTube video.

In it, Callaghan said he's "always taken no for an answer, as far as consent" but that he wants to "have more nuanced and important conversation about power dynamics, pressure, and coercion."

Callaghan, who directed and stars in the new HBO documentary "This Place Rules," said that he believed his behavior was normal, and encouraged other young men to learn from his mistakes. He also said that some of what's been reported isn't true or is missing important context, but that he respects everyone's "lived experience."

Callaghan said he's going to take a step back from public life to "do some serious work on myself," including by starting therapy "immediately."

He also said alcohol played a role in his actions and has had a detrimental effect on his life overall, so he's committing to the 12-step recovery program Alcoholics Anonymous.

Callaghan asked that his former collaborators and fans remember the mission of Channel5: "radical empathy and media literacy."

Callaghan didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, and Caroline Elise declined to comment.