YouTubers will go to extreme lengths to get views, thus is the world we live in.
Yet one previously popular online vlogger, Logan Paul, made a very unpopular – and frankly grim – video which he has now been forced to take off YouTube.
It violated pretty much every guideline and common decency, when it showed a dead body.
Logan and his crew travelled to Japan, filming themselves venturing through a forest at the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji, otherwise known as ‘Suicide Forest’ locally.
During the 15 minute video, the crew came across the body of a man hanging from a tree after the deceased, who remains unidentified, killed himself.
After the tragic discovery – which the crew were obviously going out of their way to find – Logan turns the camera on the body and zooms in as the police are being called.
He then turns the camera upon himself as he reacts to the unfolding events, in a hideous and unintentional parody of ‘YouTuber Reacts’ video tropes.
The video, which wasn’t monetised, was intended to raise awareness for suicide – in the most misguided and sensationalist way possible, apparently.
As you could probably imagine, Logan has received a huge amount of backlash for his insensitive portrayal of the tragic aftermath of suicide, which has reached the point of epidemic in Japan.
The YouTuber has since apologised in a Twitter essay:
Dear Internet, pic.twitter.com/42OCDBhiWg
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 2, 2018
He wrote:
Dear Internet, where do I begin. Let’s start with this – I’m sorry. This is a first for me. I’ve never faced criticism like this before, because I’ve never made a mistake like this before. I’m surrounded by good people and believe I make good decisions, but I’m still a human being. I can be wrong.
I didn’t do it for views. I get views. I did it because I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity. That’s never the intention.
I intended to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention and while I thought ‘if this video saves just one life it’ll be worth it’, I was misguided by shock and awe, as portrayed in the video.
Paul concluded with a small ego trip to pepper the apology:
I do this sh*t everyday. I’ve made a 15 minute TV show EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 460+ days. One may understand that it’s easy to get caught up in the moment without assessing the possible ramifications.
I’m often reminded of how big of a reach I truly have & with great power comes great responsibility… for the first time in my life I’m regretful to say I handled that power incorrectly. It won’t happen again.
Logan rounded things off by saying he loves people and believes in people, including the hashtag ‘Logang4life’ – but evidently doesn’t understand human sensibilities that well.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues, and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 132.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.