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Bryan Callen is taking a “leave of absence” from podcasting amid sexual misconduct allegations. Late last week, the Los Angeles Times released a detailed report that included allegations against Callen from multiple women.
Callen was accused of rape, trying to force himself on another woman, and making inappropriate comments.
Immediately after the report surfaced, Callen denied the allegations and now he appears ready to continue fighting against them while taking a break from his podcast The Fighter and The Kid which he co-hosts with former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub.
“When you’re in a situation like I am, you get a lot of advice from a lot of different people, and it usually falls into two different categories. They either tell you to post a statement and disappear or they say to lay low and let the news cycle pass you by,” Callen said in a video statement on social media. “Well, for better or for worse, I’m not doing any of that.
“I never thought in a million years I would be sitting here defending myself against something I did not do 21 years ago. I categorically and absolutely deny all the allegations against me. I wanted you to see me say that, I didn’t want to post some stale statement. I wanted you to hear that come out of my mouth.”
“But I also believe in due process, and we live in a very strange time where anybody can make an allegation against you and you are guilty until proven innocent,” he said. “It’s just a fact that social media and the press alone can act as judge, jury and executioner… [so] when something like this happens, this is pretty much the only way you can defend yourself.
“Let me be very clear: I have never raped, forced myself upon any woman nor offered to trade stage time for sex. EVER. I know the truth. And I can only hold my head up high, remain true to myself, my family, my audience and know that I will not allow the cancel culture to subvert what I know and as importantly, what they know, is the truth.”
You can read the full report on the allegations against Callen here.
