Lots to unpack here. Have you been following the story?
Sunday afternoon, famous YouTuber Logan Paul uploaded a 15-minute video showing him and his friends going to the Suicide Forest at the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji – named for the high number of self-inflicted deaths that happen there.
In the extremely graphic video – which he says he filmed to call attention to the issue of suicide – he stumbles upon a dead body hanging from a tree. He giggles uncomfortably, and zooms in while police are called.
“Yo, are you alive?” he says in the video. “Are you fucking with us?”
He has since deleted it and offered multiple apologies.
The first:
Dear Internet, pic.twitter.com/42OCDBhiWg
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 2, 2018
And later had this to say:
So sorry. pic.twitter.com/JkYXzYsrLX
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 2, 2018
Twitter, though, was positively apoplectic, as you can imagine, with celebrities like Aaron Paul, Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner, 13 Reason’s Why Christian Navarro, Jeffree Star, Andy Richter and others weighing in on the controversy.
Dear @LoganPaul,
How dare you! You disgust me. I can’t believe that so many young people look up to you. So sad. Hopefully this latest video woke them up. You are pure trash. Plain and simple. Suicide is not a joke. Go rot in hell.
Ap
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) January 2, 2018
364.
Can not believe the video Logan Paul put up wasn’t flagged and removed immediately. Suicide and Mental health is not click bait. We can do better.— Christian Navarro (@ChristianLN0821) January 2, 2018
I’d be inclined to say just because you upload video to the internet every day doesn’t mean you do a daily 15 min TV show, but the fucker gets ppl to watch so wtf do I know
— Andy Richter (@AndyRichter) January 2, 2018
Dear @YTCreators,
This is what happens when you value click bait over community. If you don’t shift your thinking, more stuff like this is bound to happen.
Signed, The Creators You Shafted in the Process https://t.co/vf7le99j2z— R.J. Aguiar (@rj4gui4r) January 2, 2018
Dear @LoganPaul,
When my brother found my sister’s body, he screamed with horror & confusion & grief & tried to save her. That body was a person someone loved.
You do not walk into a suicide forest with a camera and claim mental health awareness.
— Anna Akana (@AnnaAkana) January 2, 2018
Some people will do anything for views… Disgusting.
— Jeffree Star (@JeffreeStar) January 2, 2018
An extremely dangerous narcissistic response. Never mentions the victim, the family, suicide prevention, mental health, or any signs of general remorse. Just a bunch of “I” and “me”. This is an apology on aspects that affect him and him alone. Absolutely heartbreaking. https://t.co/eZ1TbiT4w0
— Father Mac (@Machaizelli) January 2, 2018
Hey Logan Paul, You want to be the first social media billionaire? By exploiting the death of a troubled youth? Take a long hard look at what you are doing with your popularity young man. Find a mentor and perhaps log off for a moment. @LoganPaul #beahumanfirst
— Dr. Mike Varshavski (@RealDoctorMike) January 2, 2018
Some people really need to rethink what the word “respect” means.
— Jeffree Star (@JeffreeStar) January 2, 2018
He had *every* opportunity to walk away. What he did was disgusting and degrading to the poor soul who passed there, and devastating to every person who has lost someone to suicide. There’s no defense for what he did, and that half assed apology was a joke. Makes me ill.
— Julie K. (@falcongirl100) January 2, 2018
I hate to break your heart kid.. but there’s more to life than YouTube content. How about respect? Love? Patience? How about living your life for you instead of for veiws. What has the world came to when a man’s body is used as blogging footage for the veiws?
— Michelle (@michelle_forsy) January 2, 2018
i’m truly sickened by this logan paul situation. i lost my brother to suicide… my brother took his own life by hanging himself… how insensitive and sick can you be to film someone in that state
— mommy (@CorinnaKopf) January 2, 2018
$7500 Gucci jean jacket https://t.co/uwJ6028JpG
— Seth Abramovitch (@SethAbramovitch) January 2, 2018
I’m not suggesting the whole video be posted on Twitter but people need to realize he didn’t just laugh after seeing a dead body, he extensively featured this poor soul’s body in the video. Barely blurring him. What is this person’s family supposed to think? My god. https://t.co/vgahgmu1To
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) January 2, 2018
If you watched the Logan Paul video and it made you feel uncomfortable, here are some hotlines to call that will help:
Suicide Prevention Hotline
800-273-8255Depression Hotline: 1-888-640-5174
Self Harm Hotline: 1-877-455-0628
Mental Health Hotline
866-677-5924— Matt || TLJ spoilers (@adoringajlee) January 2, 2018
As many people have pointed out, his apology has a lot of holes in it. First of all, he should have just known better, period. If his intention was to shed light on suicide, he could have simply spoken about his experience in the forest and what he saw. That he filmed it, showed the body, zoomed in on it, then edited it – keeping the laugh in!– and STILL SAW NOTHING WRONG with anything he did, shows a serious lack self-awareness, integrity, and moral principals. His apology is no better, riddled, as it is, with self-aggrandizing statements that are all very strange and disturbing.
What do you think? Did you watch it? Will you accept his apologies? What should be the ramifications for something like this?
(Photo: MediaPunch)