After filming a controversial video of himself and his friends in the woods of Japan last month, Logan Paul may think he’s faced all the backlash he’s going to face.
But it turns out the lame social media star is not, well… out of the woods.
Not yet at least.
A week ago, Paul issued his first of two apologies after uploading footage taken at Japan’s infamous “suicide forest” near the base of Mt. Fuji.
The footage featured an actual dead body, the result from a man tragically hanging himself, about which Paul joked.
He also hovered over the corpse from close up and came across like an insensitive, offensive, total loser of a creep.
The video sparked debate about the role of someone such as Paul in society, as he isn’t just known for going to extreme lengths online in order to rack up hits and views…
… he’s also become a multi-millionaire for these kinds of attention-seeking stunts.
After taking down the video amidst an avalanche of criticism, Paul initially said the following:
“I’m a human being. I make mistakes…
“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.”
He concluded at this time:
“I was misguided by shock and awe, as portrayed in the video. I still am.”
Perhaps aware that he came across like a douchebag after this mea culpa, Paul later tried again (with a video he monetized), saying on camera:
“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.
“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.”
Paul went on to say he needed to “reflect” on life and that he was taking a hiatus from social media.
No one out there really thinks much will change, though; regarding Paul and/or regarding YouTube accepting him as a member of its platform.
He’ll keep churning out dumb content and YouTube will keep making money off it.
Perhaps aware that its reputation has taken a hit as part of this controversy, the company has released a new statement on the topic.
Via an “open letter our community” late on Tuesday, YouTube wrote the following:
“Many of you have been frustrated with our lack of communication recently. You’re right to be. You deserve to know what’s going on.
“It’s taken us a long time to respond, but we’ve been listening to everything you’ve been saying.
“We know that the actions of one creator can affect the entire community, so we’ll have more to share soon on steps we’re taking to ensure a video like this is never circulated again.”
The platform continued by defending its decision to remove the clip from its website and added:
“The channel violated our community guidelines, we acted accordingly, and we are looking at further consequences.”
What might this mean?
Could Logan Paul really get the permanent boot?
We can’t imagine so.
But maybe he won’t be able to profit off such filth ever again.
Concluded YouTube’s latest take on the issue:
“We expect more of the creators who build their community on YouTube, as we’re sure you do too …
“We’ll have more to share soon on steps we’re taking to ensure a video like this is never circulated again.”
We’ll see what happens from here.