If you’ve been anywhere near social media today, then you’re probably aware that Logan Paul apologized in the most half-assed fashion imaginable after posting a video that seemed to have no purpose other than traumatizing his mostly teenage audience.
Not surprisingly, Paul decided (no doubt after a lengthy consultation with his management team) to issue a second mea culpa.
This time around, he went with less of a “self-satisfied douche” tone, and more of a “oh, sh-t, I put a dead body on YouTube! My career might really be over, so I’m genuinely contrite!” vibe.
“I have made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgment, and I don’t expect to be forgiven. I’m simply here to apologize,” Paul told the camera in a brief video clip posted to his Twitter page.
“I should’ve never posted the video. I should’ve put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through. There’s a lot of things I should’ve done differently, but I didn’t and for that, from the bottom of my heart, I am sorry.”
Many have taken issue with the fact that Paul is still acting like he recorded an impromptu video and then hit “send,” when in reality, he went to a part of the world famous as a site of numerous suicides, found exactly what he was looking for, and then edited the incident into a video intended both to shock and to boost his public profile.
Paul has found an unlikely defender in Chrissy Teigen, who tweeted a reluctant message of empathy for the controversial YouTube star.
“Re: Logan Paul, something I always think about is when people make…ethical mistakes, as in, not-illegal, should we really be trying I ruin their lives and end their careers or accept the apology, personally make a choice to stop watching, and move on,” she wrote.
“I’m not saying what he did wasn’t sick and stupid and his videos aren’t or haven’t been stupid, I’m saying…a lot of you don’t know what it’s like to have a campaign to end your entire being.”
At this point, Chrissy might be more famous as a social media firebrand than as a model, so when it comes to bearing the brunt of public outrage, she knows whereof she speaks.
But it’s important to point out that none of the sane people who have been involved in this debate are calling for Logan to be publicly executed.
The consensus seems to be that he should simply go away for a while, as he’s proven that he’s not the kind of person who should be generating content for impressionable young people.
In his second apology, Paul stated that he doesn’t “expect to be forgiven,” but that’s clearly not the case.
He wants this to be over as quickly as possible so that he can continue making obscene amounts of money with cruel and problematic “prank” videos.
No PR magic is going to make the public forget that Paul mocked a suicide victim in front of an audience of millions.
Fellow YouTube star Nate Garner tweeted that Paul should donate his 2018 YouTube revenue to suicide prevention charities.
That’s a start, but we’d prefer that Paul donate his 2017 revenues, take 2018 off entirely, and come back when he learns the difference between comedy and exploitative cruelty.
