ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

The Japanese Police Reportedly Want To Question Logan Paul

Photo: Todd Williamson/WireImage.
Update: Page Six reports that the Japanese police want to question Logan Paul after he uploaded a now-deleted video that showed he and his friends stumbling upon the body of an apparent suicide victim.
Masaki Ito, a spokesman for the Yamanashi prefectural police, told the outlet that people are not obligated to report a body, but they want to speak to Paul as a suicide is a possible explanation. In the 15 minute video, Paul and his friends call the police and they can be seen arriving at the scene.
Paul made an apology video on YouTube following the backlash, in which he says he doesn't expect to be forgiven and that he just wants to apologize, both to his viewers and the family of the victim. He then announced that he would be taking a break from vlogging.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Original story follows.
While many of us spent the new year throwing confetti and sipping sparkling drinks, YouTuber Logan Paul made a different impression on 2018. Over the weekend, the 22-year-old uploaded a video titled “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest…” The video, which has since been deleted, showed the body of someone who appeared to have died by suicide, and while the face was blurred, people were extremely disturbed and upset that Paul would include something so sensitive in a video.
"This is not clickbait," Paul says in the opening. This is the most real vlog I’ve ever posted to this channel. I think this definitely marks a moment in YouTube history because I’m pretty sure this has never hopefully happened to anyone on YouTube ever."
According to Vulture, Paul stumbled upon the alleged body while visiting Aokigahara, a part of Japan's Mt. Fuji known as the "suicide forest."
"Yo, are you alive?" he says in the video. "Are you fucking with us?" He films the body, only turning the camera back to himself to talk about suicide and mental health.
"Suicide is not a joke," he told his viewers. "Depression and mental illness are not a joke. We came here with an intent to focus on the 'haunted' aspect of the forest. This obviously just became very real, and obviously a lotta people are going through a lotta shit in their lives."
While reports that the video was not monetized, and that the description pointed people to the American Society for Suicide Prevention, many viewers accused the creator of exploiting a suicide victim for clicks.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
The backlash was so strong that even celebrities have started to weigh in on the news.
In an apology note later posted on his Twitter, Paul apologized for the the video but pushed back at comments accusing him of using suicide to get clicks.
"I didn't do it for views. I get views," he wrote. "I did it because I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a ripple of negativity. That's never the intention."
However, he said it's "easy to get caught up in the moment without fully weighing the possible ramifications," and promised nothing like this would happen again.
YouTube released an official statement to vlogger Philip DeFranco condemning the content featured in Paul's video and explained their policy on graphic videos.
This isn't the first time Paul has made waves on the internet. He and other vloggers both in and surrounding a group called Team 10 make much of their content based on diss tracks and drama — either real or manufactured. It's hard to say with this particular brand of vlogger what's real and what's created specifically as a stunt.
Regardless, Paul's defense of the slip-up points to the very cause of its existence: YouTube's shift towards daily vlogging and documenting every aspect of your life unfiltered leaves little room for self-reflection, and the pressure to post content as soon as it happens means things that should be kept private end up getting broadcast to millions of people before the creator has time to process the actual message they're sending. In 2018, it may be time to opt out of the 24 hour content cycle — but judging by Paul's latest tweet, that won't be happening any time soon:
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Refinery29 has reached out to Paul, YouTube, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for comment.
If you or someone you know is considering self-harm, please get help. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT

More from Pop Culture

ADVERTISEMENT