Logan Paul, a famous vlogger with over 15 million subscribers on Youtube, uploaded an offensive video to Youtube on Dec. 31 2017. The vlog was based off of his adventures in Japan which includes him harassing people and throwing things at them, yelling in the streets, messing with the police, and him going off the trail in the Aokigahara forest, also known as Japan’s suicide forest, which is illegal. And rather than stopping his vlog when he came across a suicide victim he zoomed in on the body, which is another punishable offense, and can be heard laughing and making jokes about the victim in the background.
Logan Paul’s Youtube account should be deleted and he should no longer make money through any social media platform.
Firstly the offensive video Logan Paul uploaded had over 5 million views, many of which were young, easily influenced pre-teens. With a fanbase as large as his, Logan should know that many youths look up to him and he should act like a respectable role model. Instead his actions towards the people he encountered and harassed while visiting Japan gives leeway for his viewers to behave the same way. If a famous Youtuber can disrespect an entire country and only get a slap on the wrist his fans aren’t discouraged from acting ill-mannered. In some of his videos the people he crosses paths with can be heard telling him to go home, calling him an idiot, as well as an annoying foreigner and a dumb American. One citizen said, “I guess this is what Americans think is funny,”. Sadly, many of his young subscribers do consider his actions funny and could possibly go on to embarrass America by acting immature and being ignorant to other cultures around the world, just as he did.
Additionally, Japan’s culture is built on respect and Logan Paul’s actions disrespected the people he encountered. A video was released by another Youtuber of Logan saying “I just gotta be careful to not, like, disrespect the culture. Japan is all about respect,” he was then seen in Tokyo wearing a stereotypical rice hat and a traditional kimono. In his own vlog titled “Real life Pokémon in Japan” he states that “Japan is a real life cartoon,” and the video consisted of him throwing a plush Poké Ball at Japanese people shouting, “Pikachu I choose you”. Logan also went into a store, picked up a gameboy, threw it on the floor, and told the owner that the game was “much-o broken-o”. He also went to Tsukiji, a fish market that has had previous problems with tourists, bought a fish and an octopus tentacle and ran around Japan with them. He went into stores while holding them, pressed them against the window of a Starbucks, and placed them on the back of a cab when he was done playing with them. Another one of his misconducts is that Japan treats their dead with the utmost respect, which Logan Paul failed to do when he zoomed in on the victim’s body rather than stopping the vlog and minutes later started joking about the situation. If he was truly trying to raise awareness for suicide prevention, as he claims he was doing, he shouldn’t have disrespected the victim and his family in such a manner.
Lastly, the corpse in Logan Paul’s video violated Youtube’s terms and conditions regardless of the fact that his face was blurred. Youtube has strict rules against any graphic images, unless used for specific scientific or educational purposes, and even then requires videos with graphic images to be blocked for anyone under the age of 18. Under the video or graphic content section of Youtube’s policies it states, “It’s not okay to post violent or gory content that’s primarily intended to be shocking, sensational, or gratuitous. If a video is particularly graphic or disturbing, it should be balanced with additional context and information. If posting graphic content in a news, documentary, scientific, or artistic context, please be mindful to provide enough information to help people understand what’s going on. In some cases, content may be so violent or shocking that no amount of context will allow that content to remain on our platforms.” Logan’s video contains graphic content and did not include educational information to make the content acceptable. He claims he posted the video to raise awareness for suicide prevention, but was then making jokes about the victim’s body only minutes later. He may have believed he was helping, but his actions contradict his words.
Those supporting Logan Paul believe that everything should be forgiven because he apologized and will be taking a break to reflect on is actions, but he shouldn’t. His original apology was typed in the notes app on his phone, mentioned himself 28 times, said the words “I’m sorry” once, talked about how many views he gets, and didn’t mention the victim once. The majority of his apology is about him and his success rather than apologize to the victim’s family or his viewers.
The only solution that assures Logan Paul will no longer make a living off of his social media platforms is to delete his Youtube rather than just removing him from the Google Preferred ad program and suspending his Youtube Red Projects. The Google Preferred ad program is how advertisers are linked to popular Youtubers, but removing him from the program will not permanently stop him from being in the program. His actions deserve lasting consequences to ensure that he will not continue to be a negative influence and will no longer be a disgrace to society.
In short, Logan Paul was nothing but disrespectful and rude while visiting Japan and should no longer be allowed to make money through Youtube or any other social media platform to ensure he will not continue his shameful actions.
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