An openly gay YouTube star claiming to be the target of a hate crime may have faked his own assault.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday that Calum McSwiggan’s claims of assault were unsubstantiated and that he injured himself in prison after being arrested on suspicion of vandalism.

The self-proclaimed LGBT lifestyle YouTuber wrote on Instagram that he was brutally beaten by three men in West Hollywood after visiting a gay club following VidCon.

“The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second class citizen,” he captioned a photo of himself bandaged in a hospital bed. “With three broken teeth and six stitches in my forehead, I’ve never felt so terrified to be a gay man in the public eye.”

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that deputies that responded to the scene of the alleged hate crime early Monday “were unable to substantiate the assault.”

They said McSwiggan “had no visible injuries” when he was arrested on Monday around 2:30 a.m. “after deputies observed him vandalizing a car.” He was booked for vandalism with property damage greater than $400 and held on $20,000 bail.

“Mr. McSwiggan’s booking photo was taken prior to deputies seeing Mr. McSwiggan injuring himself,” according to the sheriff’s department statement. The photo shows no visible injuries.

The 26-year-old “was then observed injuring himself with the handle and receiver to a payphone” alone inside his jail cell at the West Hollywood Station. He was taken to the hospital for treatment, sheriff’s officials said in a statement.

Riyadh Khalif, a fellow YouTuber who attended the club with McSwiggan but didn’t witness the attack, tweeted that the attackers “knew where we were going to be because of our posts on social media before we went out and even said our names as they beat him.”

Haven’t spoken about it at all but last night @CalumMcSwiggan was attacked by three guys outside a gay bar in LA. It was disgusting and.. — Riyadh Khalaf (@RiyadhK) June 28, 2016

Terrifying to see this shit still goes on in today’s world and to one of my closest and dearest friends. He has three cracked teeth and — Riyadh Khalaf (@RiyadhK) June 28, 2016

Stitches in his head but is safe and somewhat well with us now. Please please be safe when out with friends and don’t get separated — Riyadh Khalaf (@RiyadhK) June 28, 2016

These people knew where we were going to be because of our posts on social media before we went out and even said our names as they beat him — Riyadh Khalaf (@RiyadhK) June 28, 2016

“I’ve been told to say nothing before court tomorrow but staying silent here is killing us. If you’re a friend just DM me for the truth,” McSwiggan tweeted on Tuesday. He’s scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday morning.

I’ve been told to say nothing before court tomorrow but staying silent here is killing us. If you’re a friend just DM me for the truth. — Calum McSwiggan (@CalumMcSwiggan) June 29, 2016

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