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Logan Paul is still only 28, but he’s already turned his hand to a lot of things during his career. He’s made his name as a YouTuber, as well as becoming a business mogul, podcaster, and turning his hand to both boxing and wrestling. It’s not been plain sailing in that time for the influencer – despite becoming one of the most-watched people online in that time, he’s also had more than his fair share of scandals to deal with. These are his most controversial moments to date. CryptoZoo The now-infamous CryptoZoo was first launched and endorsed by Logan in 2021. It was designed as a game where people could “breed, collect, and trade” hybrid animals as NFTs. The game got off to a bad start and Logan was the subject of a backlash after users hit out at the poor quality of the NFT, with many claiming that regular stock images of animals had been used. CryptoZoo soon went south and Logan was hit with a class-action lawsuit. Logan previously promised to refund those who had invested in the game to the tune of around $1.8 million but the money has yet to be refunded. He was also recently challenged by his upcoming boxing opponent Dillon Danis, who asked why he had yet to repay the people affected. Racist tweets unearthed in 2017 Old tweets from 2012 containing jokes made at the expense of Black and Asian people were unearthed in 2017. One post was criticised for stereotyping both Asian men and Black men, reading: “Watermelon makes your penis bigger – black men. Soy increases the estrogen in your body, decreasing penis size – asians.” Prime controversy Paul launched the hugely successful Prime energy drink with KSI in 2022, and the company was forced to defend the levels of caffeine in its beverages after facing a backlash in 2023. It came after health experts called on the US Food and Drug Administration to investigate the energy drink company. A 12 oz can of Prime contains 200mg of caffeine, equivalent to about half a dozen Coke cans or nearly two Red Bulls. The brand released a statement to People on July 11, saying: “PRIME Energy, sold in a can, dropped in 2023 and contains a comparable amount of caffeine to other top selling energy drinks, all falling within the legal limit of the countries it’s sold in.” The spokesperson for the brand said that the drink “complied with all FDA guidelines” prior to hitting the market and indicated on the packaging that PRIME energy drinks are “not made for anyone under the age of 18.” “As a brand, our top priority is consumer safety, so we welcome discussions with the FDA or any other organisation regarding suggested industry changes they feel are necessary in order to protect consumers,” they added. Video of him lassoing women from 2014 Back in 2021, an old video of Paul and YouTuber Sam Pepper lassoing unsuspecting women in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and refusing to let them go till they kissed the two men, resurfaced and sparked a backlash. The video, posted in 2014, was shared by @MeTubeDoc account on Twitter which describes itself as the “untold #MeToo stories of YouTube.” It showed the YouTubers using a rope to lasso women and not letting them go till they agreed to kiss them. The account wrote: “We have a deleted 2014 video of Logan Paul lassoing women in the street and not letting some go until they kiss him.” “It was a collab Youtube video with Sam Pepper, who weeks later would be investigated by LA police for a violent sexual assault,” the post said. In the video, Paul says: “We’re doing a thing where we pick up women with lassos.” Suicide Forest The biggest scandal of Paul’s career came in 2017, when he filmed and posted a video of himself entering Aokigahara Forest in Japan – which is often referred to as the “suicide forest”. The video showed him filming a dead body, and it was on YouTube for a day before it was deleted by Paul following heavy criticism. The clip had already received many views, though. People highlighted at the time that many of Logan’s fans are younger viewers, and will have been traumatised by the clip. Paul apologised and claimed he was trying to raise awareness of suicide. Addressing the “monsoon of negativity” in a statement, he said that he had intended to “raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention.” He added: “I didn't do it for views. I get views. I'm often reminded of how big of a reach I truly have & with great power comes great [responsibility]... for the first time in my life I'm regretful to say I handled that power incorrectly. It won't happen again.” ‘Going gay for a month’ Just over a year later, in 2019, Paul faced another negative reaction after saying he was going to “go gay for a month" as part of his New Year’s resolutions. Speaking on his podcast, he said: “March... it's male-only March. We're going to attempt to go one way, swing, and then go back." Charity Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) was one of the groups to hit out at the comments, saying: "That's not how it works, @LoganPaul." Paul then replied to GLAAD, saying: "very poor choice of words... my fault. let's get together and talk about it on my podcast next week?" GLAAD did not respond, and Logan continued to face criticism from other social media users at the time. Accused of victimising a model Logan Paul- No Handlebars [Official Music Video] www.youtube.com Model Eliza Johnson spoke out about her experience on the set of a Logan Paul video in 2018, saying she felt victimised during the shoot. Johnson spoke to Psychology Today about the video for satirical video ‘No Handlebars’, which saw Paul ride her like a human bicycle. Explaining how she hadn’t been told what the video would involve, Johnson told the publication: “I felt kind of abused. Of course, I felt ashamed, and when something like this happens and we kind of become victimized, we don’t really realize it, we want to just block it out, or say maybe it’s just me, maybe it’s not happening. It’s a very confusing type of thing to experience.” Johnson also referred to herself as the only "plus-size" model on the shoot. "I was the only one who was plus-size. I'm the base of the bike," she said. "I definitely became uncomfortable when he wanted to just get on my back like that because it's rare that you're on set and they just throw something at you. Con artists do things like that." She added: "I reached my breaking point after the sixth take and my legs were giving out. I was so physically exhausted, I wasn't even able to process what was going on… "I did [find the shoot demeaning], as far as the way the other models were dressed as well. I was kind of thankful that they didn't make me as risqué looking. They kind of had me fully clothed, but that says another thing about the whole plus-size model idea, at least in my brain." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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