Logan Paul

Paul at the 2016 New York Comic Con

By the time Paul attended college, his YouTube channel had attained a modest following via the platform Vine.[17] He majored in Industrial Engineering at Ohio University before dropping out in 2014 to pursue a career as a full-time social media entertainer in Los Angeles,[13][18] moving into an apartment complex in Los Angeles with other Vine stars.[12][13]

Paul rose to fame as a member on the Internet video sharing service Vine.[19] In February 2014, he had over 3.1 million followers on various social media platforms.[20] By April 2014 he had attained 105,000 Twitter followers, 361,000 Instagram followers, 31,000 likes on his Facebook page and about 150,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. A YouTube compilation video of his Vine work garnered more than four million views the first week it was posted.[17] In 2015 he was ranked as the 10th most influential figure on Vine, with his six-second videos earning him hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising revenue.[13] By that October, his Facebook videos alone had more than 300 million views.[12]

In early 2015, Paul appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[21] He also appeared on the Fox TV series Weird Loners, where he appeared in the role of the Paul Twins. He starred in two episodes of the Freeform series Stitchers. In 2016, he starred in the YouTube Red movie The Thinning opposite Peyton List. In early 2016, Paul trained with drama coaches and the comedy troupes The Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade.[12]

Paul wrote the screenplay for an adult comedy, Airplane Mode, which has been described as "American Pie for Gen Z", and by Paul himself as "Expendables with Internet stars."[12][22] The film was originally planned to be released in 2017, but was eventually released on August 2, 2019 after being delayed. He was also involved in a number of advertising campaigns, including for Hanes, PepsiCo, and HBO.[12] In 2016, Comcast purchased a short form digital TV series from Paul called Logan Paul VS.[23]

In February 2017, Dwayne Johnson released on his own YouTube channel, "Logan Paul has been cut from, like, all of The Rock's movies", a video starring himself and Paul, in which Johnson informs Paul that he has been cut from all of Johnson's films, and consoles Paul by making him the "ambassador" to his upcoming Baywatch feature film.[24]

On November 23, 2017, Paul released his new single, "No Handlebars", a track that draws heavily on an interpolated sample of the song "Handlebars" by the American alternative hip hop group Flobots. The song was heavily criticized for its perceived sexual objectification of women, including a scene in its music video where Paul rides several women like a bicycle. Flobots frontman Jamie Laurie lambasted Paul for both the "sexist" lyrical content of the song and for unauthorized use of the sample, calling him the face of "douchebag entitlement". Laurie would later go on to release a track with lyrics deriding Paul, titled "Handle Your Bars". Paul did not respond to Laurie's comments nor the backlash towards "No Handlebars"; however, he has since deleted the song from YouTube.[25]

On December 31, 2017, Paul uploaded a vlog to his YouTube channel depicting the recently deceased corpse of a man who had died by hanging himself in Aokigahara at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, known as the "suicide forest" due to its infamy as a suicide site. Initially intended to be part three of his "Tokyo Adventures" series, Paul and his group had planned to camp in the woods, but in response to finding the corpse, decided to notify the authorities and cancel their plans. The video gained 6.3 million views within 24 hours of being uploaded.[10] He was also criticized for other misbehavior he was captured taking part in during the trip, including climbing onto a moving forklift at the Tsukiji fish market, removing his clothing on a crowded street, then proceeding to fight with one of the people he was traveling with, and throwing a giant Poké Ball at passing citizens, including an officer of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.[26] Paul's video depicting the corpse and his group's reactions to it were criticized by celebrities and politicians.[27][28] In addition, he was accused by other members of the YouTube community of being insensitive to suicide victims.[29] Several petitions were made to Change.org urging YouTube to delete Paul's channel, the largest of which received more than 500,000 signatures as of January 12, 2018.[30]

As a result of the backlash, Paul removed the video from his YouTube channel, following up with a written apology on Twitter on January 1, 2018. On January 2, 2018, a subsequent video apology was released to YouTube in which Paul describes his behavior as a "coping mechanism," asking his fans to stop defending his actions in the process.[31][32][33] On January 9, YouTube issued a statement via their Twitter account condemning Paul's video. In the series of tweets, they said, "It's taken us a long time to respond, but we've been listening to everything you've been saying. We know that the actions of one creator can affect the entire community, so we'll have more to share soon on steps we're taking to ensure a video like this is never circulated again."[34] On January 10, YouTube announced it was removing Paul's channels from Google Preferred, its preferred ad program, and New World Order, the sequel to his YouTube film The Thinning, was placed on hold,[35][36] with the airing of Logan Paul VS. being halted as well. He was also cut from season 4 of the YouTube Red series Foursome and the role of Alec Fixler was terminated.[37] On January 15, Paul was seen at LAX by reporters from TMZ. He said that he has learned a lot from his mistakes and believes he has been treated "fairly". When asked whether or not he deserves a second chance, Paul replied, "Everyone deserves second chances, bro."[38] In response, he donated $1 million to suicide prevention agencies, a quarter of which is going to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.[39]

On February 4, Paul officially returned to his daily vlogs on YouTube after taking a 3 week-long hiatus.[40] YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said on February 12 that Paul did not violate YouTube's three-strike policy and did not meet the criteria for being banned from the platform.[41] In the wake of the controversy regarding the suicide video, Maverick Apparel, a brand for juniors and children, threatened Paul with legal action for giving his clothing line a similar name ("Maverick by Logan Paul"), believing shoppers are confusing their line with Paul's, resulting in a deep decline in sales.[42][43]

Paul during the weigh-in before his amateur boxing match with KSI in August 2018.

On February 9, 2018, YouTube suspended all advertising on Paul's channels due to his "pattern of behavior", referring to his participation in the Tide Pod challenge, removing a fish from his pond to "jokingly give it CPR", and tasering two dead rats.[44] His revenue was temporarily halted as a result,[45] and as a result of the suspension, he broadcast live on Twitch for the first time.[46] Two weeks later, on February 26, YouTube restored ads on Paul's channel; however, his channel was still on a 90-day "probation period" during which time content from his channel was not eligible to be on YouTube's trending tab.[47]

In January 2019, Paul remarked on his Impaulsive podcast, "What is it, male-only March? We're gonna attempt to go gay for just one month." He received widespread criticism for implying that being homosexual is a choice, with LGBT+ organization GLAAD responding to Paul's statement on Twitter, writing, "That's not how it works, Logan Paul."[48]

In March 2019, Paul released what has been described as a Flat Earth mockumentary, exploring the Flat Earth Theory. In the video, he interviewed many self-proclaimed "Flat Earthers," and spoke at the 2018 Flat Earth International Conference, which took place in Denver, Colorado.[49]

On February 3, 2018, following his white collar amateur boxing match with Joe Weller, British YouTuber KSI challenged Paul to a boxing match.[50] On February 24, 2018, it was announced that Paul and his brother would be fighting KSI and his younger brother, Deji, in two white-collar boxing matches.[51] The fight ended as a majority draw, with two judges scoring the fight even at 57–57 and a third judge scoring 58–57 in favor of KSI.[52]

On September 4, 2019, it was announced that Paul would be making his professional boxing debut in a rematch against KSI, which would be shown exclusively on DAZN in the U.S.[53] The fight was scheduled to take place on November 9 at the Staples Center.[54] At the UK press conference for the rematch, Paul again stirred controversy as he accused KSI of having five abortions, before remarking, "Five babies dead. I might return the favor and kill you." He received criticism from pro-choice abortion activists, who described his comment as "horrific", while pro-life abortion activists came to his defense. Paul responded by stating, "I said something distasteful and insensitive."[55]

The rematch, which consisted of six three minute rounds, resulted in a win for KSI via split decision, with two judges scoring the fight 57–54 and 56–55 for KSI, and one judge scoring it 56–55 in favor of Paul.[56]