Calum McSwiggan (born 21 May 1990) is a British

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

, blogger, and online radio presenter. McSwiggan creates video content on LGBT+ issues, mental health, and sex and relationships. He began creating YouTube videos in 2013 and began hosting ''The Calum McSwiggan Show'' on Fubar Radio in 2017.

Personal life

McSwiggan was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and grew up in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. He graduated from the

University of Derby , mottoeng = Experience is the best teacher , established = 1851 – Teacher Training College1992 – gained university status , type = Public , chancellor = William Cavendish, Ear ...

with a degree in Creative Writing, then worked abroad for several years as an English teacher in Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Germany. He also spent time working in an animal sanctuary in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, raising and caring for tiger cubs. In 2013, he worked for HIV charity

Terrence Higgins Trust Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV, to ...

in London before becoming self-employed as a blogger and online radio presenter in 2018.

Career

YouTube

McSwiggan began creating YouTube videos in September 2013 and was shortlisted as a finalist for Lastminute.com's nationwide search for a travel blogger later that year. McSwiggan collaborated with LGBT+ charity organisation

Switchboard (UK) Switchboard is the second-oldest LGBT+ telephone helpline in the United Kingdom, launched the day after Edinburgh Befrienders (later known as Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard). Switchboard was launched in March 1974 as the London Lesbian a ...

in June 2015 to support their relaunch with a series of videos featuring notable LGBT+ celebrities including

Tom Daley Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...

, and

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little Britain'' (2003–2006, 2020) and '' Come Fly ...

. In 2016, McSwiggan co-produced an award-winning documentary on mental health and in 2017 his ''Love Happens Here'' video was awarded best LGBT+ short film at

Buffer Festival Buffer Festival is an international digital video festival, held annually in Toronto, Ontario. The festival, founded in 2013 by Corey Vidal, Corrado Coia, and Samantha Fall of the ApprenticeA YouTube channel, showcases the talent of online video ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Writing

McSwiggan was entertainment editor for the

student magazine, "Dusted" in 2008 and published his first piece of work in the prose and poetry anthology ''What We Wrote''. McSwiggan began blogging his experiences of travelling solo as a gay man in 2011, and went on to contribute to a number of books including

Hannah Witton Hannah Lisa Witton (born 19 February 1992) is an English-German YouTuber, talk-show host, broadcaster, and author. Witton creates video blogs and informational content which is mostly based around relationships, sex and sexual health; liberation ...

's sex education book ''Doing It''. In 2017 he signed to literary agent Diamond Kahn & Woods working on his first book.

Radio and podcasts

McSwiggan began his presenting career at University where he hosted a radio show with friend, author Laura Jane Williams. He presented The Calum McSwiggan Show on

FUBAR Radio FUBAR Radio is an internet radio station based in the United Kingdom. History FUBAR received £125,000 from the Early Advantage Fund, managed by Midven on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the European Regio ...

with LGBT+ guests such as Munroe Bergdorf and Rose McGowan. The show has a commitment to LGBT+ talent and exclusively plays music from LGBT+ artists. McSwiggan has also spoken about a number of LGBT+ issues on stations including

Gaydio Gaydio is a radio station for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ+) people in the United Kingdom, broadcast on 88.4 FM in Greater Manchester, on DAB digital radio in Greater London, parts of the Home Counties, Manchester, Brigh ...

and

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

. McSwiggan has also co-presented an episode of

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's Gay Britannia and took part in a 24-hour live radio broadcast for

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...

Controversy

In January 2016, McSwiggan uploaded a video ''I Did Gay Porn and I'm Sorry'' apologizing for an incident where footage was posted online showing him performing bareback porn, despite McSwiggan's consistent promotion of

safe sex Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or contraceptive devices (such as condoms) to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer se ...

. He later received criticism from a number of gay pornographic actors who claimed that his views were demonizing of the industry. In June 2016, McSwiggan pleaded guilty to vandalism after claiming he was attacked during an alleged

hate crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

in Los Angeles. Charges of filing a false police report were dropped as part of a plea deal. The

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

confirmed the injuries sustained during the incident were actually self-inflicted, and that the alleged hate crime was a hoax.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McSwiggan, Calum 1990 births Living people People from Nottingham LGBT YouTubers Gay entertainers British LGBT entertainers Alumni of the University of Derby Lifestyle YouTubers English entertainers YouTubers who make LGBT-related content British male bloggers English radio presenters People from Derbyshire LGBT-related controversies in art 20th-century British LGBT people 21st-century British LGBT people