YouTuber Apologizes For Disrespectful Upload Of Suicide In Japan

Suicide is always a touchy subject and YouTuber Logan Paul found this out the hard way when he decided to upload a video that contained an apparent suicide. The footage was shot in Aokigahara, which is known in Japan as the “suicide forest.” Not only did Paul post the video for people to view, he and his team even made comments in bad taste while shooting it.

Aokigahara has gained a reputation around the world not only for the unfortunate practices performed in the area but also because it’s at the base of one of the most famous natural landmarks in Japan, Mt. Fuji. As such, there was no doubt that Paul knew what he was getting into.

In fact, in the now-deleted video that he posted titled “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest…” Paul seemed to revel in the fact that he had found the body of someone who hanged themselves from a tree, New York Magazine reports.

“This is not clickbait. This is the most real vlog I’ve ever posted to this channel,” Paul said in the video’s intro. “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.”

Along with the clearly bad taste in which the video was opened, Paul and his team made certain comments that clearly made light of the situation. The members joked and laughed as they shot the footage of the body. This was in direct contrast to the warnings of the seriousness of depression, suicide, and mental issues that he made in the same video.

As expected, the video sparked outrage and the backlash was so swift that Paul inevitably had to make an apology and remove the video, Kotaku reports. Yet, with the seriousness of the subject coupled with the reputation of the area that they were filming in and the knowledge that they undoubtedly had beforehand, it wouldn’t be farfetched to conclude that this was all a publicity stunt.

This is also further evidence of internet personalities going to horrible lengths to gain more attention. Paul’s antics mimic similarly insensitive and offensive videos by other well-known YouTube celebrities in the past.