Okay, we're all familiar with 22-year-old vlogger and Young-Harry-from-Dumb-and-Dumber, Logan Paul. After making a video mocking a suicide victim, he faced an enormous backlash. He deleted the video, apologized and said he'd take a break from YouTube to "reflect on things." That makes sense. When you exploit a dead body for ad revenue, pissing off the entire world, and jeopardizing your nascent career, you want to take some time to do some soul-searching, and - wait, what? He's back already? He's back already. Wow. That was quick.
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After a three week break from social media,
Logan Paul returned to YouTube, publishing a video titled "Suicide: Be Here Tomorrow." Compared to the vloggers' other videos, which range from obnoxious to extremely obnoxious, this one has a strikingly different tone. It aims to be a serious, sincere video about suicide awareness. Logan interviews a man who tried to kill himself by jumping off the Golden State Bridge, talks to the director of the Suicide Prevention Hotline, and pledges to donate one million dollars to suicide prevention organizations. Also, there's sad piano music. Like,
really sad piano music. So you know he's serious.
"I know I’ve made mistakes," says Logan Paul, a man who saw a corpse and thought, "Time for a selfie!" He continues, "I know I’ve let people down, but what happens when you’re given an opportunity to help make a difference in the world? It’s time to learn from the past as I get better and grow as a human being. Its time to start a new chapter in my life as I continue to educate both myself and others on suicide."
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Some people said Logan Paul
deserves a second chance, and praised him for making a serious video about suicide awareness. However, many others saw his comeback video as an orchestrated, narcissistic, manipulative PR piece that exploits the issue of suicide prevention, just as he exploited a suicide victim. As fellow YouTuber Jimmy Wong tweeted, "Hey Logan. You're not solving a real issue when you address the one thing you just happened to get caught about. You're just covering your ass." He added that Logan "has far too much influence and too little wisdom to go with it." (Hard to argue with that.)
And Jimmy Wong wasn't alone. Many Twitter users spotted glaring problems in Logan Paul's "heartbreaking comeback video." (Such as, for example,
his other offensive videos in Tokyo, where he dressed up like a Japanese caricature and harassed people on the street with Pokeballs and squid tentacles. Those videos are still online, and he did not apologize.)
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Everyone makes mistakes, but when you look at Logan Paul's other videos, there's a pattern of obnoxious behavior. It's hard to believe he's changed so dramatically in so little time - no matter how loud he cranks up the sad piano music.
