Jake Paul, brother to Logan Paul, posted a video defending his brother’s decision to publish footage to YouTube showing a corpse in Japan’s “suicide forest.”
Logan uploaded the video to his YouTube page, but then took it down amid serious backlash from around the world. Among the most outraged were various suicide prevention groups, who said Logan was making light of the seriousness of the situation and paid tremendous disrespect to the man who died.
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In a video titled YouTube, Let’s Talk About Brother Logan Paul, Jake, 21, tries to explain what happened and why his brother, 22, chose to post the video in the first place.
“I wanted to let the situation have some time to breathe,” said Jake, referring to his radio silence on the matter. “It didn’t feel right to comment on it right away. But as his brother and as someone who knows Logan the best, I do feel it’s necessary to say something about it.”
“I think what Logan did was very, very, very, very wrong, and he made a huge mistake,” he continued. “And not only is he paying for it, but he is learning from it. I think that in no way, shape, or form is suicide a joke or should be made fun of. He did not mean to offend or hurt anybody or create such a big frustration. And he is honestly, truly, truly sorry.”
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The video ends with Jake insisting that Logan will “bounce back,” especially if his fans keep supporting him along the way.
Logan initially posted an apology to Twitter, and then followed up with a more contrite, heartfelt message (though many said that seemed phony, too).
“There’s a lot of things I should have done differently but I didn’t,” he said tearfully. “And for that, from the bottom of my heart, I am sorry … for my fans who are defending my actions, please don’t. I don’t deserve to be defended. My goal with my content is always to entertain; to push the boundaries, to be all-inclusive. In the world live in, I share almost everything I do. The intent is never to be heartless, cruel, or malicious.”
Jake has approximately 13 million YouTube subscribers, while Logan has approximately 15 million. Logan’s fans are collectively known as the “Logang.” Aside from the two apologies, he has not made any further comment on the “suicide forest” video.
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YouTube removed Logan from Google Preferred and will not feature him in the new season of Foursome, a rom-com web series featuring social media entertainers. His new video blogs are also on hold at the moment.
As of this writing, Jake’s video defending Logan has more than one million views.
(You can watch a segment of Jake’s video, top.)
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the Canadian Suicide Prevention Service (CSPS), available 24/7, at 1-833-456-4566. For more information on suicide and to find help nearest you, visit the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention.