Youtube star Logan Paul, who has over 15 million subscribers, decided to entertain his viewers by going to Japan's Aokigahara Forest, a place where over 500 people have committed suicide, and find a dead body to show them. He succeeded, but when people around the world were outraged, he realized the video could be detrimental to his lucrative career shilling for major brands like Pepsi and HBO he took it down. Now he's sorry, so sorry.
No apology yet from Youtube, which added the video to its trending page, helping it get 6 million views before it was pulled.
From The Washington Post:
The now-deleted video was titled, "We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest . . .", and that is, more or less, exactly what the vlog showed – complete with extended footage of the body of an apparent suicide victim. In a short intro, Paul called it "the most real vlog I have ever posted on this channel" and "a moment in YouTube history."
On Monday, amid outrage on Twitter and from other YouTube personalities, the video disappeared from Paul's YouTube channel, and the social media superstar tweeted out an apology. Paul said he "intended to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention" with the video, and claimed he "didn't do it for views."
"I'm often reminded of how big a reach I have & with great power comes great responsibility," He said. "For the first time in my life I'm regretful to say I handled that power incorrectly. It won't happen again."
From ABC News:
Here's Paul's typical fare:
True Georgie has a few things to say about it: