Warning: This article discusses suicide.
Controversial YouTuber Logan Paul has issued an apology to the internet after his recent vid was met with universal outrage.
The YouTuber recently traveled to a forest in Japan known as “suicide forest” as it’s the site of hundreds of suicides.
Logan filmed a video from within the forest, titled “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest…” that appeared to feature a deceased body.
“This is not clickbait. This is the most real vlog I’ve ever posted to this channel,” he said in the now deleted vlog.
“I think this definitely marks a moment in YouTube history because I’m pretty sure this has never hopefully happened to anyone on YouTube ever. Now with that said: Buckle the f*** up, because you’re never gonna see a video like this again!”
Logan and his crew come across what appears to be the body of a person who has died by suicide, he calls out: “Yo, are you alive? Are you f***ing with us?”
As they approach the body, he says: “His hands are purple. He did this this morning.”
Despite garnering 6 million views in less than 24 hours, Logan copped immediate backlash for the offensive content and removed the video from the internet.
He later released the following public apology to his fans:
“Let’s start with this—I’m sorry,” he wrote on Twitter. “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.”
He continued, “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. I still am.”
“I do this s–t ever day. 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 fully weighing the possible ramifications,” he explained in his Twitter post. “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.”
He added, “I love everyone. I believe in people. I’m out here. Peace. #Logang4Life.”
Loads of fans and celebs alike have blasted the YouTuber online, with many calling for him to be banned from YouTube for good.