YouTuber Logan Paul mocked for plea to save the rainforest: ‘Not that again’

Elise Solé
YouTuber Paul Logan wants to help the Amazon rainforest but no one believes him. (Photo: Getty Images)
YouTuber Paul Logan wants to help the Amazon rainforest but no one believes him. (Photo: Getty Images)

YouTuber Logan Paul wants to help the rainforest, but no one believes him.

On Wednesday, the 24-year-old actor and online personality tweeted a photo of the Brazilian rainforest, reportedly burning at its highest rate since 2013, with a compassionate ask.

“Amazon rainforest: how can I help? need advice on how I can actually make a change here; these pictures are breaking my heart,” he wrote. “This is one of the most important ecosystems on earth. is there a fundraiser, a call to action, anything i can leverage my audience for on this?”

Paul’s rally for action was highly commended, but it also rang fake for followers reminded of his past transgressions.

“A true comedian,” someone wrote, with another adding, “not in a forest again.”

“We all know what happened last time you went into a forest,” someone echoed.

“Idk why, I just feel like with your bad luck with forests, the first thing I gotta say is please don’t go to one,” pleaded a follower. “It’s better off for the rainforest. Look for a fundraiser, even help send someone that can actually make an impact. Just... not that again.”

All were references to the “Suicide Forest” scandal of December 2017, when Paul visited Aokigahara Forest in Japan, a spot where people commonly die by suicide. There, Paul filmed his discovery of a dead man’s body reportedly shouting, “Yo, are you alive? Are you fucking with us?”

“This is not clickbait. This is the most real vlog I’ve ever posted to this channel,” Paul says in the video, per New York magazine. “I think this definitely marks a moment in YouTube history because I’m pretty sure this has never hopefully happened to anyone on YouTube ever...” Paul also shared unnecessary descriptions of the man’s appearance and his personal take on his time of death.

Paul was hastily canceled by YouTubers and celebrities alike, including Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul, who posted, “...Suicide is not a joke. Go rot in hell.”

The YouTube star was pressured to removed the video and in January 2018, issuing a written apology that read, in part, “I did it because I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity. That’s never the intention.” Paul said that he intended to raise awareness for suicide “but was misguided by shock and awe...”

The apology didn’t quell backlash. Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner tweeted in response, “You’re an idiot. You’re not raising awareness. You’re mocking. I can’t believe how self-praising your ‘apology’ is. You don’t deserve the success (views) you have. I pray to God you never have to experience anything like that man did.”

Still, after the demand for YouTube to remove Paul, the company tweeted, “We expect more of the creators who build their community on YouTube, as we’re sure you do too. The channel violated our community guidelines, we acted accordingly, and we are looking at further consequences.”

A year later, Paul angered more when he vowed to “go gay” for a month during his podcast “Impaulsive.” In addition to pledging to follow a vegan diet for January, reported Time, Paul declared “male-only March.”

The statements painted Paul as homophobic, and GLAAD (formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) even tweeted, “That’s not how it works, @LoganPaul.”

And in April, Paul invited onto his podcast, InfoWars host Alex Jones, who is famous for calling the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, a "giant hoax" by crisis actors, and the September 11, 2001 attacks an “inside job” by the U.S. government. Last August, Jones was banned from YouTube for posting videos insulting Muslim and transgender people.

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