Logan Paul is pressing pause on his daily vlog. The YouTube star, 22, announced he is taking a break from his channel after coming under fire for posting a since-deleted video of an apparent suicide victim in Japan.
“taking time to reflect,” Paul tweeted on Wednesday, January 3. “no vlog for now see you soon.”
taking time to reflect
no vlog for now
see you soon— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 4, 2018
The vlogger first found fame in 2014 with the short videos he shared on the now-defunct app Vine. He later branched out into TV and movies, and even made a guest appearance on a 2015 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. His YouTube channel, on which he posted daily videos, has more than 15 million subscribers.
But Paul’s success came to a halt on December 31 when he uploaded a 15-minute video of himself and three friends discovering the corpse of a man who appeared to have hung himself in a tree in Aokigahara, which is commonly known as Japan’s “suicide forest.” The man’s face was blurred, but the rest of his body was visible. Paul claimed he posted the vlog to raise awareness about suicide prevention, even though he burst into laughter at one point in the graphic video.
The internet personality issued two apologies after facing widespread backlash. “I’ve made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgement and I don’t expect to be forgiven. I’m simply here to apologize,” he said in a YouTube video on Tuesday, January 2, adding that he “should have never posted the video.”
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
