# Logan Pauls Suicide Forest Video > Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video is a December 2017 vlog by YouTuber Logan Paul showing a dead body in Japan's Aokigahara forest that sparked massive backlash and creator accountability debates. Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video was a viral controversy sparked on December 31, 2017, when YouTuber Logan Paul uploaded a vlog showing a dead body hanging from a tree in Japan's Aokigahara forest. The video drew massive backlash from fans, fellow creators, and mainstream media, leading to Paul's removal from YouTube's Google Preferred program and a temporary suspension of ad revenue on his channels[3]. The incident became one of the most widely discussed creator accountability scandals in YouTube history and forced the platform to reckon with how it handled top creators who violated community guidelines[6]. ## Origin Logan Paul uploaded the video to YouTube on December 31, 2017, as part three of his "Tokyo Adventures" vlog series[2]. The day before, he had teased it on Twitter, telling followers: "tomorrow's vlog will be the craziest and most real video I've ever uploaded"[4]. The video was not behind any age gate and appeared in YouTube's trending section almost immediately[5]. In the clip, Paul enters Aokigahara with stated plans to explore its "haunted" reputation and camp overnight[2]. Early into the trek, the group spots a body. "Yo, are you alive? Are you fucking with us?" Paul calls out[8]. After realizing what he's looking at, he turns the camera on himself: "A lot of things going through my mind. This is a first for me"[2]. He then films the body up close, noting, "His hands are purple. He did this this morning"[8]. The video closes with Paul stating that "suicide is not a joke" and that "depression and mental illness are not a joke," while the YouTube description linked to the American Society for Suicide Prevention[2]. The video pulled in over 6.2 million views before Paul himself deleted it roughly 24 hours later on January 1, 2018[5]. YouTube did not remove it[4]. - **Platform:** YouTube - **Creator:** Logan Paul (YouTuber) - **Date:** 2017 ## Overview On the last day of 2017, Logan Paul, then a 22-year-old YouTuber with over 15 million subscribers, posted a 15-minute vlog filmed in Aokigahara, a dense forest at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan[2]. The forest, sometimes called the "Sea of Trees," is known both as a tourist destination and as a location associated with a high number of suicides[3]. In the video, Paul and his crew discovered the body of a man who had died by suicide. While the victim's face was blurred, the camera lingered on the body from multiple angles, and Paul's on-camera reactions mixed shock with jokes and levity that viewers found deeply inappropriate[2]. The video was titled "We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest..." and opened with Paul declaring, "This definitely marks a moment in YouTube history"[5]. Before finding the body, the vlog played like any other entry in his Japan travel series, complete with funny hats and jokes about Fiji water[2]. The tonal shift when the body appeared, combined with Paul's apparent inability to stop performing for the camera, is what made the clip so widely condemned[1]. ## How It Spread The backlash was immediate and came from every corner of the internet. On Twitter, the hashtag #LoganPaul trended worldwide as millions condemned the video[1]. Actor Aaron Paul (no relation) tweeted his disgust[5]. YouTube's initial response was a lukewarm statement saying the platform "prohibits violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner"[3]. On January 1, Paul posted a text apology on Twitter, claiming he had been "misguided by shock and awe" and that the video was meant to "raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention"[1]. Critics saw this as damage control. The next day, January 2, he uploaded a second, more somber video apology titled "So Sorry," in which he stated, "I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down"[1]. That video hit #1 on YouTube's trending page and drew over 38 million views[4]. Also on January 2, PewDiePie uploaded a reaction video that pulled 8.6 million views in 24 hours[5]. On Reddit, a screenshot of a 4chan greentext story written from the perspective of the deceased man, paired with a Virgin vs. Chad edit, gained over 7,000 upvotes on r/4chan within a day[5]. YouTube didn't issue a formal response until January 9, 2018, a full nine days after the video was posted. In an "open letter" tweeted from the official YouTube account, the company said it found the video "upsetting," declared "suicide is not a joke," and stated that the channel had violated community guidelines[6]. Many pointed out that YouTube hadn't actually removed the video; Paul had deleted it himself, and it had been allowed to sit on the trending page[7]. Philip DeFranco uploaded a video on January 10 criticizing YouTube's open letter, which drew 1.7 million views in 24 hours[5]. On January 10, YouTube took concrete action: Paul's channels were removed from Google Preferred, the program that gives advertisers easy access to the top 5% of creators[4]. His YouTube Red series *Foursome* was cancelled for its upcoming season, and other original content deals were put on hold[3]. Paul estimated the Google Preferred removal alone cost him $5 million in ad revenue[12]. Paul went quiet for about three weeks. On January 24, he returned with "Suicide: Be Here Tomorrow," a seven-minute documentary featuring meetings with specialists and suicide survivors, with a pledge to donate $1 million to suicide prevention causes[5]. The video hit #1 trending and got 9 million views in its first day[5]. Reaction was mixed. Twitter user @jfwong called it "a BANDAID on a BROKEN BONE," while journalist Taylor Lorenz noted that Paul's child and teen fanbase "basically never abandoned him" and he had only gained subscribers during the controversy[5]. ## How to Use Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video is not a meme template in the traditional sense. It's a reference point and a punchline. People typically invoke it in a few ways: - **As shorthand for creator irresponsibility:** When a YouTuber or influencer does something tone-deaf, commenters often compare it to the suicide forest incident. "This is their Logan Paul moment" is a common framing. - **In Virgin vs. Chad and greentext formats:** The 4chan community created edits and greentext stories riffing on the event almost immediately[5]. - **As a benchmark for platform accountability:** Discussions about YouTube's content moderation policies often circle back to this incident as a case study in how the platform handled (or failed to handle) its biggest stars. - **In "apology video" parody culture:** Paul's two-part apology sequence helped codify the modern YouTuber apology video format, and references to it show up whenever creators post similar tearful responses to controversy. ## Cultural Impact The suicide forest video was a watershed moment for discussions about influencer ethics and platform responsibility. It generated coverage from the New York Times[1], The Verge[3], NY Magazine[2], BuzzFeed News[4], Global News[6], The Daily Beast[7], and dozens of other outlets, making it one of the most covered YouTube controversies ever. YouTube's response to the scandal directly influenced its policy changes around creator monetization and content guidelines. The platform tightened requirements for the YouTube Partner Program in the weeks following, raising the threshold for monetization eligibility[3]. The incident also put Google Preferred under a spotlight, making advertisers more cautious about which creators they were associated with[4]. Anna Akana, a YouTuber who had lost a family member to suicide, was quoted in YouTube's own open letter: "That body was a person someone loved. You do not walk into a suicide forest with a camera and claim mental health awareness"[8]. The line became one of the most shared responses to the incident. The event also helped shape the modern "YouTuber apology video" as a genre. Paul's progression from dismissive text apology to tearful video apology to charity pledge set a template that dozens of creators would follow in subsequent controversies. ## Fun Facts - Paul's "So Sorry" apology video got more views (38 million) than the original suicide forest video ever did (6.2 million before deletion)[4]. - Despite the controversy, Paul gained over 400,000 new subscribers while he was offline[4]. - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson asked Paul to scrub every photo and video they'd ever taken together. The request came through their shared publicist[13]. - Jake Paul, who wasn't in the video at all, lost a $10 million brand deal with Target because of the fallout[9]. - The video was never removed by YouTube. Paul deleted it himself, and it had already appeared on YouTube's trending page[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video? It's a vlog uploaded by YouTuber Logan Paul on December 31, 2017, in which he filmed a dead body in Japan's Aokigahara forest. The video drew worldwide backlash for treating suicide as entertainment[1]. ### Where did Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video come from? Paul filmed the video during a trip to Japan as part of his "Tokyo Adventures" vlog series. He entered Aokigahara, known colloquially as the "Suicide Forest," and encountered the body of a man who had died by suicide[2]. ### What does Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video mean? The video became a symbol of influencer irresponsibility and the "anything for views" culture on YouTube. It's referenced whenever creators cross ethical lines for content[3]. ### How do you use Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video as a meme? People reference the incident as shorthand for tone-deaf creator behavior, in greentext stories, Virgin vs. Chad edits, and discussions about platform accountability[5]. ### Is Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video still popular? The video itself was deleted in January 2018, but the incident is still widely referenced in discussions about YouTube controversies, creator ethics, and platform moderation failures. It's a permanent fixture in internet history[4]. ### How many views did the suicide forest video get before it was deleted? The video received over 6.2 million views in roughly 24 hours before Paul removed it on January 1, 2018[5]. ### Did YouTube remove the video? No. Logan Paul deleted the video himself. YouTube did not take it down, and it had already appeared on the platform's trending page, which drew significant criticism[7]. ### What happened to Logan Paul's YouTube revenue? YouTube removed Paul from Google Preferred on January 10, 2018, and temporarily suspended all ad revenue on his channels on February 9, 2018. Paul estimated Google Preferred alone cost him $5 million[3]. ### How did Logan Paul apologize? He issued two apologies. The first was a written statement on Twitter on January 1, 2018, which was widely criticized. The second was a video titled "So Sorry" on January 2, which hit #1 on YouTube's trending page with 38 million views[1]. ### Did Logan Paul's career survive the scandal? Yes. Despite the backlash, Paul gained subscribers during his hiatus, earned $14.5 million in 2018 according to Forbes, and pivoted to boxing and podcasting[12]. ### How did the controversy affect Jake Paul? Jake Paul lost a $10 million brand deal and was dropped by every affiliated brand despite not appearing in the video. He later said he experienced suicidal ideation during the fallout[9]. ### What was Dwayne Johnson's response? Johnson asked Paul through their shared publicist to remove every photo and video they had made together. Johnson's reaction was personal, as his mother had attempted suicide when he was 15[13]. ### Did anyone copy Logan Paul's Aokigahara stunt? Yes. In December 2018, Indonesian YouTuber Qorygore filmed his own video in Aokigahara, declared "This is Logan Paul 2.0," and had the video removed by YouTube after 575,000 views[11]. ### What policy changes did YouTube make after the incident? YouTube tightened monetization requirements, removed Paul from Google Preferred, suspended his ad revenue, and cancelled his YouTube Red projects. The platform also tightened its creator guidelines around graphic content[3]. ## References 1. [Logan Paul, YouTube Star, Says Posting Video of Dead Body Was ‘Misguided’ - The New York Times]() 2. [Logan Paul is getting dragged for his insensitive comment on Cardi B's Instagram | Mashable]() 3. [YouTube suspends Logan Paul’s ad revenue, blames ‘recent pattern of behavior’ | The Verge]() 4. [Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Video - Know Your Meme]() 5. [List of YouTube videos]() 6. [YouTuber Qorygore Posts Video of Body in Japanese Suicide Forest]() 7. [Logan Paul Posts Suicide Forest Video on YouTube]() 8. [Logan Paul Loses Business Deals With YouTube Amid Outcry Over His "Suicide Forest" Video]() 9. [YouTube looking into ‘further consequences’ after Logan Paul’s ‘suicide forest’ video - National | Globalnews.ca]() 10. [Jake Paul Had Suicidal Thoughts After 'Suicide Forest' Scandal]() 11. [YouTube ‘Looking at Further Consequences’ for Logan Paul’s ‘Suicide Forest’ Video]() 12. [YouTube releases lengthy apology for Logan Paul video | Daily Mail Online]() 13. [Dwayne Johnson Had Vicious Response To Logan Paul Video Controversy]() 14. [Viral – UPROXX]() 15. [Logan Paul Tide Pod challenge for retweets after suicide forest video | Metro News]() 16. [Logan Paul is getting dragged for his insensitive comment on Cardi B's Instagram | Mashable]() 17. [Indonesian Youtuber pulls a Logan Paul by filming dead body in Japan’s suicide forest | Coconuts]() 18. [YouTuber Qorygore Posts Video of Body in Japanese Suicide Forest]() 19. [Logan Paul Suicide Forest Video: The Full Story (2026)]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/logan-pauls-suicide-forest-video Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library