Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video

About

Logan Paul’s Suicide Forest Video is a viral video by YouTuber Logan Paul in which he discovers a dead body in the Aokigahara forest in the Chūbu region of Honshu in Japan. After the video was uploaded to YouTube in late December 2017, Paul was widely criticized online for exploiting a man’s suicide for clickbait and video views.

Origin

On December 31st, 2017, Paul uploaded a video to YouTube in which he visited Aokigahara, a forest on Mt. Fuji in Japan colloquially known as the “Suicide Forest” for the unusually high number of suicides that take place there. The video has since been deleted, but received over at least 6.2 million views before then.^[9] In the video, Paul finds a body hanging. Paul went on to say in the video that suicide and depression are serious issues. While the original video has since been deleted, a mirrored version was uploaded to Liveleak on January 2nd, 2018, which garnered more than 919,000 views within 24 hours (shown below).

Spread

The video immediately created a wave of controversy as people saw the video as Paul trivializing suicide for the success of his YouTube channel. Criticism on Twitter focused on the presentation of the suicide. For example, Twitter user @GucciFinn tweeted that Paul’s actions after discovering the body did not excuse his talks about depression being a serious issue in the video (shown below, left). Actor Aaron Paul (no relation) tweeted his disgust at Logan as well (shown below, right).

YouTube posted a statement on Paul’s video, saying their hearts went out to the family of the suicide victim and clarifying their policy on graphic content (shown below).

After a day of backlash, Paul took to Twitter to post screenshots of an apology he’d written on his phone. He stated that he intended to raise awareness about suicide prevention and noted that he made a lot of content every day and was swept up “in the moment” (shown below).

Also on January 2nd, Redditor uniqueUsername18839 posted a screenshot of a 4chan post featuring a green text story from the perspective of the man who killed himself, followed by a Virgin vs. Chad edit based on the controversy (shown below). Within 24 hours, the post gained over 7,000 points (92% upvoted) and 270 comments on /r/4chan.^[1]

Shortly after, Paul posted a video titled “So Sorry,” in which he apologized for posting the video (shown below). Over the next day, the video reached #1 on YouTube’s trending page and received upwards of 17 million views and 762,000 comments.

The same day, YouTuber PewDiePie uploaded a video reacting to the controversy, which garnered more than 8.6 million views and 106,000 comments over the next 24 hours (shown below, left). Also on January 2nd, PewDiePie uploaded a short mashup of the Paul video with YouTuber Keemstar’s “Dollar in the Woods” music video. The video has since been removed.

YouTube’s Response

Open Letter

On January 9th, 2018, the official YouTube Twitter^[4] feed tweeted a series of tweets as an “open letter” to the video-sharing site community, saying they found the video upsetting, that “suicide is not a joke” and that channel was in violation of YouTube’s community guidelines and that the company had acted “accordingly.”

Many criticized YouTube’s response, disputed the claim that the site acted accordingly, noting that it was only removed by Paul and not YouTube itself and that it had been placed on the YouTube trending page (shown below). In the coming days, several internet news sites published articles about YouTube’s response, including UpRoxx and NYMag.

On January 10th, YouTuber Philip DeFranco uploaded a video criticizing YouTube’s open letter, which gained over 1.7 million views and 10,500 comments within 24 hours.

Removal From Google Preferred

On January 10th, 2018, the YouTube news blog Tubefilter^[5] reported that YouTube had removed Paul’s channel from Google Preferred and that Paul would no longer appeared in season 4 of the YouTube Red web series Foursome. A statement from a YouTube spokesperson read as follows:

“In light of recent events, we have decided to remove Logan Paul’s channels from Google Preferred. Additionally, we will not feature Logan in season 4 of ‘Foursome’ and his new Originals are on hold.”

That day, the news was subsequently reported by The Daily Dot,^[6]BuzzFeed^[7] and UpRoxx.^[8] Meanwhile, YouTuber MundaneMatt uploaded a video discussing YouTube’s announcement (shown below).

Paul’s Return to Vlogging

On January 24th, 2018, Logan Paul returned to vlogging with a video called “Suicide: Be Here Tomorrow,” a seven-minute documentary about Paul’s learning to understand suicide by meeting with specialists, doctors and survivors.^[9] Toward the end of the vlog, Paul pledges to donate $1 million to suicide prevention causes. The video (shown below) received more than 9 million views in 24 hours and became the #1 trending video on YouTube.

The response to the video was mixed. On January 24th, Twitter^[10] user @jfwong described the video as a public relations maneuver. They tweeted, “TLDR– Logan Paul finally gave the world a unifying reason so we could all rally against him. His vlog also showed us a very messed up & privileged kid with far too much influence and little wisdom to go with it. Thus, his suicide awareness video is a BANDAID on a BROKENBONE.” The post (shown below, left) received more than 3,300 retweets and 15,000 likes in 24 hours.

That day, Twitter^[11] user @TheLazyKidOfJoy tweeted their support of Paul. They wrote, “Alright. I honestly thought Logan Paul could never come back from what he has done. But I am happy to be proven wrong by him. His new video is incredible and truly shows that he wants to change for the better of the world and himself. @LoganPaul you are not alone. 🙌 #Respect.” The post (shown below, center) received more than 120 retweets and 930 likes in 24 hours.

Twitter^[12] user @TaylorLorenz noted that Paul’s fanbase has not left him in the wake of the controversy. She tweeted, “Worth noting that Logan Paul’s child/teen fan base basically never abandoned him over the suicide forest vid, he only gained subscribers and mainstream notoriety. Now they are all welcoming him back like #wow #brave. He’s being praised by fellow YouTubers too.” The post (shown below, right) received more than 775 retweets and 4,000 likes in 24 hours.

That day, Twitter^[13] published a Moments page on the video and reaction to it.

Logan Paul: Suicide Forest Run

In late January 2018, a platformer video game titled Logan Paul: Suicide Forest Run was uploaded for Android devices to the Google Play store. On January 27th, YouTuber Celebrity Martyr uploaded footage from the game (shown below).

On January 29th, Google removed the app from the Google Play store, where it had been ranked #9 in the United States.

That day, The Daily Dot published an article about the game, which featured an interview with the creator of the game, who identified himself by the pseudonym Simo Mediator.

“The main idea of my game was to show in a sarcastic way the reason Logan Paul went to the suicide forest. The real reason [was] to get views, [and this] was intended to be sort of a meme game. Never thought it would get this much success. I heard it got 9 in U.S. Google Play rank, but I’m not sure. I didn’t set up ranking tools and app analytics, because never thought it would get this popular.”

Cardi B Instagram Comment

On January 31st, rapper and recording artist Cardi B posted a picture of herself on Instagram^[19] with the caption “They trinna crucify me like they did Christ .” The post (shown below) received more than 1.5 million likes in 24 hours.

Shortly after the post was made, Logan Paul, presumably referring to his ongoing “Suicide Forest vlog” controversy, responded to the comment with “lawlz u tellin me.” The comment (shown below, left) received more than 1,900 likes in 18 hours.

This comment was not well-received by Cardi B’s followers, who mostly chastised Paul for his comment. The following day, Mashable^[20] published an article about the backlash to Paul’s comment.

Good Morning America Interview

On February 1st, 2018, Paul appeared on Good Morning America^[14] for an exclusive interview (shown below). In the interview with GMA’s Michael Strahan, Paul discusses his experiences since the infamous video’s release, particularly speaking with the parents of children who watch his show and the violent reaction from people online. He believes this his content is not for children and that parents should be “monitoring” what their children watch. He also discusses his being dropped from Google Preferred, which provides advertisers an easier path to content creators.

Online, people were mixed on the interview. Twitter^[15] user NicoleB1015 tweeted (shown below, left), "LoganPaul the whole world does not hate you there are still people that love you and that will not turn there back on you just because of 1 mistake that you made i don’t hate you at all i still love you no matter what goes on i even bought some of your new merch."

However, Twitter^[16] user @TaylorLorenz took issue with Paul’s perception of his fanbase. She wrote, “Logan: ’It’s odd, because I’m 22 years old, it’s not like I’m making content necessarily for kids.’ Ummm half his fan base is like 8 years old there’s no way he doesn’t recognize that. No 22 year olds watch Logan Paul.” The tweet (shown below, center) received more than 360 retweets and 1,600 likes in 12 hours.

Additionally, Twitter^[17] user @dmburrows tweeted, “He keeps making this all about himself. That’s what got him in trouble in the first place.” The tweet (shown below, right) received more than 115 retweet and 945 likes in 12 hours.

That day, Twitter^[18] published a Moments page dedicated to the reaction to the interview.

Various Examples

In the coming days days, various photoshops and image macros criticizing and mocking Paul reached the frontpage of the /r/dankmemes and /r/memeeconomy subreddits (shown below).

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Search Interest

External References