YouTube has severed its business partnership with Logan Paul, a star vlogger who filmed the dead body of a suicide victim in a Japanese forest.
Paul’s channel has been removed from Google Preferred, a platform that links advertisers with top-performing YouTubers, “in light of recent events,” according to a spokesman, Sky News reports.
The 22-year-old first rose to internet fame on clip platform Vine, before building a YouTube channel that now boasts in excess of 15 million followers. He also has a role in sitcom Foursome on the platform’s original content channel YouTube Red.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
However, the spokesman said that the upcoming fourth season of the comedy “will not feature Logan” and that his other pending YouTube Red projects have been placed on hold.
The announcement follows an open letter earlier this week in which YouTube said “suicide is not a joke, nor should it ever be a driving force for views”.
Logan’s comedy skits frequently feature puerile humour and bad taste pranks, but many felt that a video filmed in a Japanese “suicide forest” went beyond the pale.
In the video, uploaded on New Year's Day, Paul and a number of friends walk through Aokigahara forest, near Mount Fuji, before stumbling across the body of a person who had hanged himself.
Paul shows the body of the victim, whose identity is unknown, from several angles but blurs his face. A member of the group is heard remarking that he “doesn’t feel good”. Paul replies: “What, you never stand next to a dead guy?” and then laughs, The Guardian writes.
The video had millions of views on YouTube before it was taken down, the BBC reports, while online comments slammed the video as “disrespectful” and “disgusting”, and called for Paul's channel to be taken down.
Paul later apologised for the video, claiming he had been “misguided by shock and awe”.
Aokigahara has a reputation in Japan as a destination for people who want to kill themselves.
“Data on the number of suicides there each year is not made public, to avoid publicising the site,” the BBC writes. “Signs are posted in the forest urging people to seek medical help rather than take their own lives.”
Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts can call the Samaritans free on 116 123 or contact them online for confidential, 24-hour support
-
October 13 editorial cartoonsCartoons Monday's political cartoons include Donald Trump's consolation prize, government workers during shutdown, and more
-
Can Gaza momentum help end the war in Ukraine?Today's Big Question Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles hints at ‘warming relations’ between Ukraine and US
-
The Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners being releasedThe Explainer Triumphant Donald Trump addresses the Israeli parliament as families on both sides of the Gaza war reunite with their loved ones
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across SyriaTHE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
