It may have taken the most boneheaded of all boneheaded moves, but Logan Paul claims to have reached an epiphany.
Kind of. Sort of.
Either that, or the wildly popular YouTube star has realized what he needs to do from a public relations standpoint.
Earlier this week, Paul got in scalding hot water for basically being an insensitive jackass.
He uploaded a video to his social media account of him and some buddies walking through a forest in Japan that is known for people choosing to take their own lives there.
Indeed, it is actually known as the “suicide forest.”
At one point, Paul comes across a dead body, films it for multiple minutes and even makes a few jokes about it.
The clip has since been deleted, but it was viewed by millions of people, all of whom saw Paul make funny faces in the direction of the corpse, while also zooming in for a close-up.
It was an example of disgusting behavior and illuminating behavior, reflective of a culture in which people will film anything if they think it could go viral.
In response, Paul apologized.
In rather obnoxious fashion.
“Let’s start with this – I’m sorry,” he said on New Year’s Day, adding:
“This is a first for me. I’ve never faced criticism like this before, because I’ve never made a mistake like this before.
“I’m surrounded by good people and believe I make good decisions, but I’m still a human being. I can be wrong.
“I didn’t do it for views. I get views. I did it because I thought I could make a positive ripple on the Internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity. That’s never the intention.
“I intended to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention and while I thought ‘if this video saves just ONE life, it’ll be worth it,’ I was misguided by shock and awe, as portrayed in the video. I still am.”
He went on to talk about his monumentally huge following and didn’t really come across all that regretful in this mea culpa.
So then Paul tried again.
In a video (which he monetized), Paul at least sounded a bit more contrite during apology number-two, saying at one point:
“I do not deserve to be defended … I’m ashamed of myself. I’m disappointed in myself. And I promise to do better. I will do better.”
But he won’t try to do better any time soon; because he won’t be sharing any new videos any time soon.
“Taking time to reflect,” Logan shared with his 3.9 million Twitter followers Wednesday night. “No vlog for now. See you soon.”
Prior to making this decision, Paul had uploaded at least one 15-minute video online every day for 460 days in a row.
But maybe, possibly, he finally understands just how much he effed up with this latest one.
“Our hearts go out to the family of the person featured in the video,” a spokesperson for YouTube told E! News in a statement.
“YouTube prohibits violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner.
“If a video is graphic, it can only remain on the site when supported by appropriate educational or documentary information and in some cases it will be age-gated.
“We partner with safety groups such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to provide educational resources that are incorporated in our YouTube Safety Center.”