Highlights
- Logan Paul has a history of controversial actions, which have resulted in backlash and consequences.
- Despite facing scandals and losing personal relationships, Paul's YouTube channel continued to gain views and subscribers, leading some to believe that his controversial actions were publicity stunts.
- Even though Paul has shifted his focus to his podcast and boxing career, he still manages to stir up controversy. His suspected rigged boxing match with Floyd Mayweather also sparked rumors and criticism.
Since he gained internet stardom in 2013, Logan Paul’s name has been synonymous with controversy. Paul got his start on Vine, and used the now-dead platform as a launching pad for his YouTube channel and other endeavors. Not long after its creation, the Logan Paul vlog (video-blog) channel boasted millions of subscribers and billions of views. Paul was one of the early YouTube millionaires, amassing a reported $45 million net worth.
Some of Paul’s most popular videos seemed to play on shock value, which got the young star into trouble on multiple occasions. Paul’s many scandals lost him some money and a few personal relationships, but almost never views. For this reason, some people suggested that the influencer’s controversial actions were publicity stunts. In recent years, Paul has turned away from YouTube to focus on his Podcast, Impaulsive, and a budding boxing career. His more quiet life as a boxer has made some wonder if the rambunctious former-YouTuber has grown up. However, Paul still manages to stir up controversy.
Keep scrolling to see a timeline of every major Logan Paul scandal.
9 September 2017 - Racist Tweets
In 2017, some of Logan Paul’s old tweets resurfaced, in which the star made jokes based on racist stereotypes of Black and Asian people. Logan was not the only Paul brother to be accused of propagating racial prejudice that year. Using the tag, #JakePaulIsOverParty on Twitter, people called out the younger Paul brother’s past racially insensitive comments and actions.
8 December 2017 - Suicide Forest
On December 31, 2017, Logan Paul posted a YouTube video that would become the biggest controversy of his career. In the video, Paul enteres the Aokigahara Forest—also known as the “suicide forest”—in Japan and films a dead body. He removed the already heavily-viewed video the next day and tweeted an apology—claiming that he had only posted it to raise awareness. After people pushed for the influencer to be punished, YouTube demonetized his channel and removed him from one of Google's advertising partnerships, according to NBC. His film, The Thinning: New World Order, was also briefly put on hold.
7 February 2018 - Tasering Dead Rats
Shortly after facing public backlash from the “suicide forest video,” Paul found himself in the hot seat again for tasering two dead rats in a video. In the vlog, Paul discovered the bodies of two dead rats on his balcony and proceeded to taser them, saying, “No rat comes into my house without getting tased.” After many people and multiple organizations, including PETA, called on YouTube to hold the internet star responsible, the platform temporarily removed ads from his channel and placed a warning over the video, but did not remove it.
6 March 2018 - Mistreating Plus-Size Model
Plus-size model, Eliza Johnson, spoke with Psychology Today about her upsetting experience working on a Logan Paul music video. In the satirical video, “No Handlebars,” Paul physically rode Johnson like a human bicycle. Johnson said that she had not been informed about what the shoot would entail before arriving. She described experiencing physical pain during filming, but felt worse once she saw the video. “I felt kind of abused,” Johnson told Psychology Today, “Of course, I felt ashamed, and when something like this happens and we kind of become victimized, we don’t really realize it, we want to just block it out, or say maybe it’s just me, maybe it’s not happening. It’s a very confusing type of thing to experience.”
5 January 2019 - Saying He’ll “Go Gay” For A Month
Paul hit the headlines again when he vowed to “go gay” for a month. During an episode of his podcast, “Impaulsive,” Paul said that he planned to “go gay” for what he dubbed “male-only March.” LGBTQ+ people, organizations and allies informed Paul that his comment propagated the misconception that homosexuality is a choice. Paul responded to a tweet from the LGBT NGO, GLAAD, inviting them to discuss it on his podcast. GLADD did not take up this invitation, which many considered to be a publicity stunt.
4 June 2019 - Unintentionally Knocking Someone Out
While preparing for a Russian slapping competition, Paul hired a “professional slapper” for him to practice on. In the video “THE SLAP THAT CHANGED MY LIFE,” Paul appears to slap the 6.3 foot, 350 pound man so hard that he blacks out. While the man had consented to the slap, people online found the footage upsetting and expressed concern for his health. YouTube attached a content warning label to the video, which is common on Paul’s channel. After the slap, Paul decided not to attend the competition, for his own safety.
3 July 2019 - Giving An Unhinged Interview
Logan Paul gave a bizarre Fox Business interview that left viewers utterly confused. Throughout his conversation with anchor Liz Claman, Paul deviated significantly from the topic at hand—cross-platform social media stardom—and went on tangents about having pink eye and being the quickest man alive. Viewers debated whether Paul simply lacked media training or was acting out for publicity.
2 June 2021 - Lassoing Women
An old video of Paul and fellow YouTuber Sam Pepper lassoing women on the street and forcing them to kiss each guy resurfaced and, once again, stirred up controversy for the celebrity. In a post-MeToo culture, contemporary viewers of the 2014 video were appalled by the boys’ coercive behavior. This scandal certainly did not help Paul's case for being an upstanding guy, and many consider him to be quite the opposite.
1 June 2021 - Suspected Rigged Boxing Match
In recent years, Paul has focused on a budding boxing career more so than YouTube. But it seems that controversy follows this star offline too. In 2021, rumors circulated that a fight between Paul and boxing legend, Floyd Mayweather was rigged. People said that during the match Mayweather appeared to prop Paul back up after he had passed out. Paul dismissed the claims by telling people to shut up and to "stop trying to discredit what happened.”
Despite the controversy, Paul has continued his boxing career. He will fight mixed martial artist Dillon Danis later in 2023. Paul's younger brother Jake Paul is also pursueing a career in the sport, and Jake has actually fought in more boxing matches than Logan to date.