Even the second apology didn’t quite do the trick, so YouTuber Logan Paul on Wednesday announced he would put his popular daily vlog on hiatus.
“Taking time to reflect,” he tweeted. “No vlog for now. see you soon.”
The two-time 2017 Teen Choice Award winner has come under intense fire this week after posting a video Sunday titled “We found a dead body in the Japanese suicide forest” that showed a corpse hanging from a tree in Aokigahara forest near Mt. Fuji. He took down the clip a day later, when it had already garnered at least 6 million views.
taking time to reflect
no vlog for now
see you soon— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 4, 2018
Paul’s initial apology for the video sparked a second wave of backlash so furious he had to issue another one on Tuesday.
But he has posted no new videos since then to his YouTube page, which has 15.4 million followers. It’s unclear how long he plans his hiatus to be.
Reps for Paul did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Paul’s initial “sorry” went out on Twitter Monday night, and got slammed for being a masterclass in self-pity.
“I’ve never faced criticism like this before, because I’ve never made a mistake like this before,” he said, adding, “I didn’t do it for views. I get views… I do this sh- every day. I’ve made a 15-minute TV show EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 460+ days. One may understand that it’s easy to get caught up in the moment without fully weighing the possible ramifications.”
Altogether, Paul referred to himself 27 times in the text apology — and that’s not even counting his #Logang4Life coda.
The 22-year-old has built a social media kingdom, thanks to his daily vlogs.
Paul’s YouTube channel has hauled in nearly 3 billion views since launching in 2015. His mostly-teenage fans follow him for wacky stunts — something his younger brother, former Disney Channel star Jake, has also harnessed into millions of subscribers.
Logan Paul has parlayed his success into lucrative partnerships with brands like Pepsi, Hanes, and Dunkin’ Donuts.
Paul’s initial video drew almost immediate criticism for showing the graphic images of an apparent suicide — especially since it came in the midst of a 15-minute clip about his Japanese travels in which he laughs and jokes about other aspects of local culture.