Logan Paul Causes Controversy After Offensive Trip to Japan
Youtube sensation Logan Paul’s took a trip to Japan on which he engaged in insensitive and racist antics. Despite his controversial actions, some fans continue to support him.
Until recently, Logan Paul was a Youtube sensation. With his diss tracks, pranks and vlogs, the 22-year-old’s channel gained 10 million followers faster than any other channel in Youtube history, according to Metro. However, his career took a turn for the worse on a trip to Japan last month.
Paul had been uploading vlogs throughout his trip, but was brought into the public’s eye with a video showing a man who had hung himself in Aokigahara Forest, more commonly known as the Suicide Forest. @flavordays on Twitter explains the forest on her twitter.
Paul uploaded the demonetized video which received over five million views before it was taken down.
“Um… I really hate to say this. I think there’s someone hanging right there.” The video cuts to him pretending to be serious before starting to laugh. “This is a thing, this is a thing that’s in our lives now,” he says to the girl next to him, who is trying to hide a smile.
“There’s no going back, I’ve seen things I can’t unsee,” he says jokingly. The girl replies with a serious tone but a smile on her face.
“We found a dead body.”
Paul starts to laugh again.
On Jan. 1, he posted a written apology on Twitter, followed by a video apology the following day, but even his apologies are controversial. Some people find them to be sincere but considering he was still being slammed after the Twitter post, the video seems scripted and forced. It was posted to Youtube and received 34.6 million views. Social Blade predicts that the video could earn between $17.3K-$138.5K for Logan.
Paul’s trip to the Suicide Forest was not his only offensive venture in Japan. He began the trip with a vlog in which he threw a tomato into the wall of a hotel room while yelling. In the same video, he and his friends visit the Asakusa District in Tokyo, a popular tourist destination and historic district. They proceed to run through a busy market and scream. One of his friends is pulled to the side by a police due to the cameras. They are asked to put them away and they agree and Paul said into his camera, “We’re gonna be respectful for a little bit. I know it’s new but we gotta do it sometimes.” It did not last long.
In his second video of the trip, Paul rides on the back of a moving car with his friend and acknowledges his behavior.
“Maybe I should stop,” he said. “Probably not.”
He stuck a dead fish and raw squid legs in the faces of the people on the street and against a store window. Rather than throwing the raw products away when he was done with them, he sticks them in the backseat of a taxi.
In a fourth video, Paul “promotes” his merchandise by screaming his website name on a busy street. He then went into an electronics shop and bought a Gameboy and Pokémon games. When he finds that the Gameboy does not work, instead of simply returning the console, he smashes it on the floor, runs outside and throws it into the street.
In order to “fulfill” his Pokéball dreams, Paul dresses up in a Pikachu onesie and carries around a plush Pokéball. After harassing a visibly uncomfortable woman on the street, he and his friends take the plush Pokéball and throw it at pedestrians and chase a man riding his bike to try to get the ball into the basket.
Even after his disruptive and insensitive behavior in Japan, Paul has fans supporting him. One fan tweeted “Logan we will always support you baby don’t worry everyone makes mistakes!!! F these people making fun of you they’re just jealous!! #LoGangers #logang4life.”
Another tweet by the same fan said “That dead man should be grateful he had a chance to be seen with the one and only Logan Paul! Logan gave him a huge opportunity to be seen by millions of people and you guys are mad about that? Disgusting! #logang.”
Youtuber Reina Scully posted a video of her response to Paul’s video as a Japanese native. She calls his approach to Aokigahara insulting and problematic to Japanese citizens. She adds that his videos were filmed and uploaded during a holy day in Japan. However, she received backlash from Paul’s fans, calling her racial slurs, cussing her out and accusing her of using Paul for views.
On Jan. 8, 2018 YouTube announced that it had dropped Paul’s Red show, “Foursome,” and removed him from Google’s preferred advertising program. Thus, he is cut off from his main source of income. However, the public is still making petitions for Youtube to ban him.
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Rebecca Chapman • Jan 22, 2018 at 10:24 AM
Ugh, this is horrifying and embarrassing. It’s a good article. Captures the situation well.