Back in 2014, the name Logan Paul was associated with humorous and harmless vines created purely for the entertainment of his viewers. However, his name now sparks both anger and frustration for well deserved reasons.

On top of incredibly offensive behavior and shocking cultural appropriation, within the last month, he has been under incredible scrutiny regarding his behavior toward suicide and suicide prevention.

It all started on December 31, 2017 when 22-year-old video blogger (“vlogger”) Logan Paul traveled with a few friends to Japan to film videos and meet some Japanese fans. But Paul found himself in a predicament that quickly escalated.

In his vlog, Paul starts out traveling around the city of Tokyo, visiting restaurants, clothing stores and even an ancient Japanese temple, a place where citizens can come for spiritual cleansing and to wish for prosperity and good luck.

It is in the temple that Paul’s downfall begins. He starts out making large public gestures, trying to incorporate some of the Japanese people into his video. However, instead of coming off as welcoming, the citizens featured in the video are seen with embarrassment on their faces and discomfort in their body language.

This blatant display of ignorance of the culture of Japan continues to be reflected in the rest of his vlog.

“It almost seems as though [Logan Paul is] looking down on the Japanese people,” said Melodee Morita, a Japanese-American vlogger and TV news reporter for Inside Edition, in a video posted to the Inside Edition YouTube channel. “Which is why he feels he can say and do anything he feels like doing.”

The disrespect continues and spreads onto a much larger scale later on in the video. Paul and his friends go into Aokigahara, commonly called the “suicide forest,” due to the alarming number of suicides that take place there each year.

While filming his vlog, Paul and his friends discover the body of a man who had committed suicide. Instead of alerting authorities, Paul continued to film.
Additionally, to make matters worse for himself, Paul knowingly edited his footage and uploaded his video to YouTube for his 15 million viral subscribers and the rest of the world to see.

“His insensitivity is truly shocking. It’s scary to think kids look up to him,” said junior Kylie Scott.

The video was eventually taken down after 24 hours on January 1, 2018 after surpassing 6 million views. An initial apology was posted to Twitter later that day as well. He claimed he is “often reminded of how big of a reach [he] truly [has]”, and he is “regretful to say [he] handled that power incorrectly” (taken from an apology posted via Twitter).

Despite posting multiple apologies, hundreds of thousands of YouTube comments and tweets were directed at Paul, including some from celebrities such as Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul (no relation to Logan Paul) and Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner. Turner tweeted she “can’t believe how self-praising [his] ‘apology’ is. [He] doesn’t deserve the success.”

Suicide is in no way an appropriate platform for jokes.

“Like any mental disorder, you have to be compassionate towards people,” said Mrs. Angela Schultheis, a Mercy High psychology teacher. “Everyone is sensitive towards different subjects based on their own life experiences. We look to the media and to different celebrities and we emulate what they see, what they do and what they feel. Not being honest and not treating these topics with the sensitivity they deserve creates a stigma that says it’s ok to treat people who are suffering like they don’t matter.”