**UPDATE 12 January 2017: YouTube has reprimanded Logan by taking him off their Google Preferred programme where brands have access to the top 5% of content creators - these ads are the most lucrative on YouTube. They have also suspended his YouTube Red movie, The Thinning 2, put off all of his original projects. **
Do you even have a YouTube account if you don’t know Logan Paul? I’m ashamed to say I’ve been taken in by more than one of his clickbait titles. I actually discovered Logan Paul after one of my favourite Storytime YouTubers (I know, I have no life) Jessi Smiles exposed him for the way he treated her after she filed rape charges against her ex-boyfriend, one of his friends.
In an attempt to find out more, I watch one of his daily vlogs. One second I’m watching him prank his roommates like the typical frat boy that he is, the next I’m hours into a YouTube binge and he’s pretending to be colourblind for views. His 15 million subscribers aren’t surprising, his content is addictive.
He’s come a long way since I first heard of him, only a year ago, not just with subscribers but also the extremes he goes to for views. From making 15 second comedy vines to creating ridiculously expensive diss tracks – yeah, YouTuber’s do that too these days, it’s not just a rap thing - against his own brother (also a famous YouTuber, Jake Paul- you might remember him from the Internet’s 4th most hated song ‘It’s Everyday Bro’), Logan has become a clickbait, view mongering master, garnering around 3 million views per video.
While the majority of his content is purely entertainment, albeit encouraging his millions of young fans to be obnoxious, ignorant and superficial, yesterday he took his quest for shock value to a new, heavily disturbing level.
In his 484th daily vlog, he visited Aokigahara, a forest in Japan known as the ’suicide forrest’ because it is the most common site for suicide in Japan. Expecting to camp overnight and explore the haunted aspect of the site, he stumbles across the body of a man who has hung himself on a tree. He continues not only to vlog next to the man but film his hands up close, 360 degree shots of his body and blurred shots of his face. Even worse, he starts making jokes. When his videographer, Brendan North, claims he doesn’t ‘feel very good’ Logan replies, ‘you never stand next to a dead guy?’ before laughing.
Some of us respond to uncomfortable situations with laughter, but watching this vlog, which I happened to before he took it down after receiving tonnes of backlash, his demeanor was unbelievable. Not only does he seem completely disillusioned with real emotion, to the point that he would continue filming upon discovering a dead body, but his social awareness is non-existent. He continues to be obnoxious, make jokes and just minutes later he’s running around the car park seemingly unphased by the entire ordeal.
It wasn’t just the discovery of a dead body that was horrible to watch, it was his apparent unawareness of social norms that make is quite obvious that YOU SHOULDN’T FILM A DEAD BODY AND LAUGH ABOUT HOW AWKWARD IT IS AND THEN POST IT ON THE INTERNET. He’s not a stupid person, he’s built a million-dollar empire from nothing, but his quest for views and living his entire life on a camera has clearly taken a toll on his ability to understand social boundaries.
It’s worrying for the entirety of YouTube, as even the most respectable content creators succumb to clickbait and shock value for more views. The pursuit of notoriety online has brainwashed so many creators into posting extremely irresponsible content.
Logan’s brother, Jake, made headlines last year for turning his neighbourhood into a ‘war zone’, setting fire to his pool, attracting hundreds of fans to his house in a residential street and brushing off criticism with lines like ‘it’s like a circus, but people like circuses’.
Both brothers have caused multiple unsafe situations for their fans, going against security and police advice during meet and greets where thousands of young children gather, scream and run to get to their idol. Skip to 6.14 of this video to see Logan cause what can only be described as a stampede…
Last year, one vlogger died filming a YouTube prank where he attempted to stop a bullet with an encyclopedia. His pregnant girlfriend, who fired the gun with their 3-year-old son in the same room, has been charged with manslaughter.
These are the extremes of YouTube, but it’s becoming more and more normal for young people, who view it as a seemingly easy way to become famous, to post dangerous content in an attempt to boost subscribers and clicks.
These vloggers are inspiring millions of children, at best encouraging them to be obnoxious idiots and at worst pushing them to become dangers to themselves and people around them. Logan has since apologised and deleted the video, post six million views.
But it’s going to take more than this scandal to stop the hordes of fans he has following his careless behavior. No doubt if you log onto Twitter now you’ll see hundreds of ‘Logangster’s’ defending their beloved idol. All we can do is pray they grow up and see the light, like we grew up and realized barbie has an unrealistic body and chat rooms are full of weirdos... now where's my push-up bra, I need to post a new Tinder pic...
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.