Logan Paul has quickly become one of the internet’s most well-known stars – and not for the best reasons.
As he gears up for his boxing rematch against KSI, the internet has once again become enthralled by the arch-rivals and their dubious trash talk.
However, the past few years haven’t exactly been a smooth road for Logan, who’s attempting to come back from being, in his own words, the ‘most hated person on the planet’.
It wouldn’t be exaggerating to say Logan has made some of the most shocking errors in judgement the internet has ever seen. But, through it all, he’s come out the other side relatively unscathed.
Logan first rose to fame on Vine, among the likes of David Dobrik and Josh Peck. In December 2016, the platform shut down, with Logan making the move to YouTube around the same time.
Posting a vlog every day from the end of 2016 to 2018, he quickly built up a huge audience – definitely not hindered by the skyrocketing popularity of his younger brother Jake, who started out as a Disney Channel star.
In 2017, the brothers were embroiled in a huge public feud, with the pair of them capitalising on it with their own diss tracks.
Despite things getting genuinely nasty, with Logan appearing to kiss Jake’s ex-girlfriend Alissa Violet, they eventually settled their differences.
Japan
Although the brothers made a name for themselves as troublemakers, it wasn’t until Logan hit headline news in January 2018 that he became public enemy number one.
During a trip to Japan, Logan visited Aokigahara, also known as Japan’s suicide forest, and filmed a dead body. The video was live for 24 hours before the YouTuber deleted it from his channel following worldwide backlash.
After a grovelling apology, he disappeared from the internet for just less than a month, before uploading a suicide prevention video and quickly resuming business as usual.
Reflecting on the horrific stunt and the consequences, he told Casey Neistat in a video: ‘I forgot to be a human being in that situation and instead decided to be a content creator.’
Meanwhile, Logan’s best friend Mike Majlak later told Metro.co.uk he thought the stunt had been ‘beneficial’ for Logan.
‘From a career standpoint for him, it may have caused quite a speed bump for him but, from a personal standpoint and the growth he’s made…It’s hard for me to say I’m happy it happened but I guess, looking back, I’m not unhappy that it happened,’ he said.
‘In a lot of ways, I think that happening was very beneficial for him as a person.’
KSI
Logan’s stunt and the global backlash directly led to fellow YouTuber KSI – real name Olajide ‘JJ’ Olatunji – calling on him for a boxing match after he won against Joe Weller in early 2018.
The YouTuber went on to describe the match as a ‘redemption journey’ for himself, with the pair dividing the internet down the middle and making millions from the event.
With the match ultimately ending in a draw, it was inevitable a rematch would eventually come around.
‘Going gay for a month’ and abortion comments
However, the suicide forest stunt isn’t the only reason the star has faced backlash.
In January 2019, Logan claimed he was ‘going gay’ for a month on his podcast, facing criticism from the LGBT community and organisations such as GLAAD who pointed out that being gay isn’t a choice.
He later condemned his own ‘very poor choice of words’ and spoke on his podcast with LGBT activist Josh Seefried.
At his most recent public event, the London press conference ahead of his rematch with KSI, he came under fire for commenting on his opponent’s history with abortion.
Despite later branding his own comment ‘horrific’, he stood by it and argued that it didn’t ‘warrant an apology’.
Logan’s channel has continued to skyrocket in popularity, currently hovering around the 20 million subscriber mark.
However, some are understandably dubious about whether he still deserves to have his platform – or embark on his so-called ‘redemption journey’ after such shocking errors in judgement.
With the star still going strong – and appearing like he’s not going to slow down any time soon – it’s no surprise people are questioning just how many ‘mistakes’ internet stars can get away with.
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