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Logan Paul says ‘everyone deserves second chances’ in first public comments since ‘suicide forest’ video apology
Logan Paul has said “everyone deserves second chances” in his first brief interview since the controversy over his video of a suspected suicide victim in Japan.
The 22-year-old, who was interviewed Monday as he made his way into LAX airport, also agreed he had been treated “fairly” by YouTube and the public in the wake of the outrage over his footage of a dead body in the Aokigahara forest.
His comments come after YouTube announced last week it had removed Paul from its Google Preferred premium advertising service and put its forthcoming original shows with him on hold.
Asked by a TMZ reporter whether he deserved a second chance, Paul responded: “Everyone deserves second chances bro.”
The YouTuber then said he had learned “everything, so many things” from the fallout over the Aokigahara video.
Paul also nodded in agreement when he was asked whether he had been “treated fairly by YouTube and by the public?”
The comments are the first time Paul, who is one of YouTube’s biggest stars and has 15 million subscribers, has spoken publicly since his January 2nd apology for the Aokigahara video.
The video, titled “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest…” was originally published on December 31 and was live on YouTube for around 24 hours before Paul took it down.
The footage showed close-ups of the victim's hands and was viewed more than six million times before being deleted.
More than 500,000 people have now signed a Change.org petition of calling for Paul’s YouTube channel to be deleted.
YouTube has taken measures against Paul such as placing a temporary “strike” against his account for breaching its rules around graphic content, but it has stopped short of removing his channel or demonetising it.
Paul has had a broader commercial relationship with YouTube in the past and starred in some of its original productions such as the comedy series Foursome and the 2016 YouTube Red film, The Thinning.
Since the Aokigahara video, YouTube has announced that Paul will not feature in season 4 of ‘Foursome’ and his new Originals are on hold indefinitely.
Yet the company has not closed the door on working with Paul again, as this weekend Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s Chief Business Officer, refused to rule out the possibility of future collaboration.
In his exchange with the TMZ reporter, Paul responded to a question over whether he would be making a statement about his relationship with YouTube, sayings: “It’s coming. Absolutely... soon”.
Paul also hinted that the scandal had not dented his multi-million dollar commercial empire too badly. When asked how he was making money now his YouTube revenue had been reduced he pointed to the hoodie he was wearing, which is from his own-brand Maverick Apparel range.