Update: "I'm just here to apologize."
Over the New Years weekend, my girlfriend and I huddled in the safety of our beds and watched ridiculous YouTube videos. She wanted to see the cringiest content I could gather, so I of course landed on Logan Paul music videos. After laughing our asses off to the terrible Paul rendition of “ No Handlebars,” we noticed that a weird vlog had been updated to his channel. A dead body slightly-blurred hung in the background while Paul, wearing an obnoxious green alien hat, wore his best surprised expression.
Either because of curiosity or the need to see the video before it was inevitability taken down, I pressed play on “We found a dead body.” Paul and his team of accomplices decided to camp in Japan’s Aokigahara forest, also known as the Suicide Forest, to find out whether they could see ghosts for a “skit.” Paul began the video in his usual childish nature and asked his fans to come up with a New Year’s Resolution by the end of the video before things start to take a turn for the weird.
Just a couple feet from the park’s parking lot, Paul sees a body hanging in the distance. Like any smart, good-natured YouTube cover boy, he walks over to record the limp body. Paul only blurs out his face, allowing viewers to see the purple, rigor mortis hands swinging in the breeze.
“This can’t be real,” my girlfriend says. “There’s no way that this guy is that stupid.” Turns out, the older Paul brother is that far up his own ass, because the video was taken down a few hours later. The internet exploded with hatred towards the video, with many calling it senseless, tone deaf and confusing. Prominent YouTubers like Boogie2988 and Quinton Reviews were quick to call out this crime against nature, blurring out the body completely in every video. Paul released a statement on Twitter, saying he never “faced criticism like this before, because I’ve never made a mistake like this before.”
Logan Paul will face little to no repercussions for his actions. His fans, mostly 8 to 13-year-olds will continue to watch his videos, blindly following their favorite content creator into the abyss. The teen idols of yesteryear, like Jesse McCartney and Aaron Carter, had a layer of PR people, executives and handlers in between them and the public. YouTubers, the modern equivalent, communicate directly with their fan base, allowing for a level of intimacy that creates unbridled enthusiasm. Like a modern-day snake oil salesman, YouTubers tout the need to buy their merchandise, nicknamed merch, and its ability to make them care about you.
Logan Paul actually recorded a person who committed suicide in his vlog. What kind of fucked up mentality do you need to have to do something like that?! There is absolutely no defending it
— Jacksepticeye (@Jacksepticeye) January 2, 2018
YouTube released a statement through Philip Defranco, saying that “YouTube prohibits violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner.” So far, there are no strikes on Paul’s channel or any form of punishment from the site itself. Logan Paul is one of Youtube’s largest stars and has become a spokesman for the network. In October, he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a break into the mainstream for the blonde vlogger.
When Pewdiepie said the n-word during a stream, his channel received multiple strikes and caused countless headaches for the content creator. YouTube seemed to go on the offensive and deemed his actions poor. Now that it’s a Paul brother doing the messed-up content, YouTube remains impartial and silent.
YouTube is in a state of transition, from creator-focused content to big-grand subservient. The Paul brothers will continue to thrive while the unique content that’s made YouTube so successful over the years will wither away or be forced to clickbait comply.
#giveloganastrike
