YouTube star Logan Paul apologizes after being slammed for posting sick video of a man who had hanged himself in Japan's 'suicide forest' and joking about it on film with his friends
- WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
- Logan Paul was slammed for posting sick video showing man hanging from tree
- The video was taken at the 'suicide forest' at the base of Japan's Mount Fuji
- In the video, Logan gets up close to film the man's body hanging from the tree
- Several people took to Twitter to criticize Logan for the shocking video
- Some called him a 'sick' person while others said he was an 'insensitive idiot'
- Logan, 22, later deleted the video and released a statement of apology online
- He claimed he only posted the video to try and raise awareness of suicide
- YouTube have also issued an apology saying that their 'hearts go out to the family of the person featured on the video'
- Logan, who is worth $14m and recently bought a $6.6m Calabasas mansion, has 15 million YouTube subscribers and tens of millions of followers on social media
YouTube star Logan Paul has been forced to apologize after he was slammed for posting a sick video from Japan's 'suicide forest' that appeared to show a person who had hanged himself from a tree.
Logan posted the 15 minute clip on Sunday that showed him and a few friends walking through a forest at the base of Japan's Mount Fuji.
'Did we just find a dead person in the suicide forest hanging?' Logan asked a man, who appeared to be guiding them through the forest, at the start of the shocking video.
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The video, titled 'We found a dead body', then cut to the man's body dangling from a tree as Logan zoomed in with his camera. DailyMail.com has decided not to include this part of the video.
'Yo, are you alive? Are you f**king with us?' Logan is heard yelling at the motionless man.
'A lot of things going through my mind. This is a first for me,' Logan said, before asking someone to call the police.
Logan then films closer to the man's body, noting that his 'hands are purple' and speculating that the man probably killed himself that same day.
He then apologized to his fans, saying: 'I'm so sorry about this. This was supposed to be a fun vlog.'
Logan went on to say that 'suicide is not a joke. Depression and mental illnesses are not a joke'.
The YouTube star, who is worth a reported $14 million, claimed that he and his crew visited the forest with an intent to focus on the 'haunted aspect' of the forest.
Toward the end of the clip, one of Logan's friends is heard saying, 'I don't feel good.'
Logan then replied: 'What you've never stood next to a dead guy?' He then started laughing before saying that the whole vlog was supposed to be a joke.
He later appears to realize how his reactions could be perceived, saying: 'Me smiling and laughing is not a portrayal of how I feel about the circumstances. Everyone deals with s**t differently.'
And Logan's sick video received so much backlash online that he eventually deleted the post.
Breaking Bad star, Aaron Paul, called Logan 'pure trash' before telling him to 'go rot in hell'.
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He was followed by Game of Thrones star, Sophie Turner, who called Logan an 'idiot' who doesn't 'deserve the success' he has.
Ariana Grande added: 'Logan Paul and his friends laughing and smiling after discovering a dead body from a suicide. Disgusting.'
YouTuber Corinna Kopf also lashed out at Logan for his 'insensitive' video. 'I lost my brother to suicide,' Kopf tweeted.
YouTube has since issued an apology via YouTube star Philip DeFranco, who is the video-sharing site's go to to deliver news.
'Our hearts go out to the family of the person featured in the video,' the statement read.
'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.'
Logan, 22, racks up over 20 million views on some of his daily vlogs.
The Ohio native now lives in Los Angeles after he dropped out of Ohio University to pursue a career in social media entertainment.
He rose to fame on Vine, the now-defunct app that allowed him to share six-second videos of comedy.
Logan is worth a reported $14 million that mostly comes from his social media accounts where he gets paid to endorse various products in front of his more than 13 million subscribers on YouTube.
He currently has 15 million subscribers on his YouTube channel - which was the first to get to 1 million subscribers in the history of the site. He's also appeared in commercials for brands ranging from Hanes to HBO. He has almost 4 million followers on Twitter, 16.1 million followers on Instagram and 16.6 million followers on Facebook.
According to Forbes, Logan makes $150,000 per Facebook post and $80,000 for sponsored content on Instagram.
In 2017, Paul dropped an impressive $6.6 million on a 8,700-square-foot home in Encino, California. The home, which was previously owned by actor Ryan Stiles, features five bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
His new home, which is in the Rancho Estates neighborhood, has seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms on an acre block.
His brother Jake Paul, 20, also dropped a similar sum of $6.925 million on a 15,000 square-ft mansion in Calabasas,California.
Jake has also courted controversy after he was accused of making his former neighbors' lives 'hell.'
The 20-year-old Disney star and social media influencer is famed for his 'crazy' pranks that included throwing a Harley Davidson in his backyard pool and setting furniture on fire. He and his 'squad' also loved to throw rowdy parties.
Families in the LA neighborhood accused Jake of turning their lives into a 'living hell'.
During an interview with KTLA about the misery he'd caused to his neighbors, Jake seemed amused by the uproar. 'The neighbors hate me,' he laughingly told KTLA.
Jake was further seen running and skipping through the streets before climbing on top of the KTLA van - ignoring the pleas of staffers to stop.
Meanwhile Logan first made his mark on Vine, before pivoting to YouTube, where he boasts nearly 16 million subscribers between two accounts.
Since then he has tried his hand at acting in TV and films, with guest roles in Law And Order: Special Victims Unit and YouTube Red thrilled The Thinning
Logan also sells his own line of merchandise through his company called Maverick.
After all of the backlash, Logan later apologized for his actions, saying that he's 'sorry' and he's 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,' Logan said in his statement.
Logan claimed in his apology that he 'didn't do it for views' because he already gets views.
'I did it because I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity... 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.'
The apology continued with: 'I do this sh*t every day. I've made a 15 minute TV show EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 460+ days. One may understand that it's easy to get caught up in the moment without fully weighing the possible ramifications.'
Many people reacted to his apology by saying they didn't understand how someone could 'get caught up in the moment' while filming a man who had just committed suicide.
For confidential support call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
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