In late December YouTube star Logan Paul celebrated his wildly successful 2017 in trademark fashion: with a high-octane video gushing about all his achievements.
Among them were buying a $6.5 million mansion — complete with a home theatre system, launching his clothing range: Maverick Apparel, appearing on the Jimmy Kimmel show and starring in his first Hollywood movie.
In the 22-year-old's own words 2017 had been his "rocket fuel" year, the heady and highly-lucrative culmination of a career that had started with him making six-second comedy sketches on the defunct video platform Vine.
"This was the year that the two first names Logan and Paul became household names", said Paul as he beamed into the camera for the video entitled "Why 2017 was the best year of my life".
However, in the first week of 2018 the name Logan Paul had gone from household fame to global notoriety due to the first video he posted in the New Year, a video that has rocked his multi-million dollar empire to its foundations.
On Monday he uploaded a video, entitled "We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest…" that showed the corpse of an apparent suicide victim in Aokigahara forest, the site of frequent suicides.
Paul had gone to the "haunted" forest at the base of Mount Fuji intending to spend the night as a stunt for the video. However when he and his crew stumbled across the body of an apparent suicide victim he kept the cameras rolling.
A group of schoolchildren read signs posted in the dense woods of the Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mount Fuji. Photo / File
In an intro to the video, he says: "This is not clickbait. This is the most real vlog I've ever posted on this channel.
"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."
He ended his intro saying: "Now with that said, buckle the f--k up because you are never going to see a video like this again."
The backlash to the video was swift and Paul deleted it from YouTube, but not before it had been viewed more than six million times.
Over the last few days the fallout has gathered pace as more than 120,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for his channel to be deleted from YouTube. He has also been publicly excoriated by celebrities such as Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul and Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner.
In a bid to stem the controversy Paul issued a sullen video apology saying he was "ashamed" of himself and didn't "expect to be forgiven".
taking time to reflect no vlog for now see you soon
Born in Westlake, Ohio, in 1995, Logan Paul started vlogging on YouTube at the age of 10. His rise to social media fame started on the now-defunct short-form video platform Vine where he amassed over nine million followers and began making money through advertising.
His six-second comedy video routines and pranks, sometimes on unsuspecting members of the public, racked up millions of hits and by the age of 19 he had moved to Los Angeles to live with some of the world's biggest Vine stars. In 2014 he quit university to pursue a full time career as a social media entertainer.
Paul's frenetic style was well-suited to the fast-paced nature of Vine, but it also translated successfully to a longer format on YouTube, where his daily mix of vlogs, pranks and comedy sketches has garnered over 15 million subscribers.
Today, he is one of the most recognised social media stars on the planet with a total reach on various social media platforms of 48.7 million.
"I want to be the biggest entertainer in the world," he told Business Insider in 2015.
"That's my deal. I'll do whatever it takes to get that. As many hours as is needed." As well as making thousands through ads on each video he posts he has also developed a lucrative merchandise line, which he plugs generously throughout his videos to his followers, who he calls the Logang.
His exposure has also led to commercial partnerships with brands like Disney, Pepsi, HBO and helped him branch into film and TV. In recent years he has landed roles in film such as YouTube Red's The Thinning and the Hollywood movie Valley Girl.
The Aokigahara forest video is not the first time Paul, who says the goal of his content is "always to entertain" and to "push the boundaries", has courted controversy.
US gossip site Radar Online reports the prankster was arrested for entering a woman's car in in 2014. He got into the victim's car without permission, closed the door and began recording her, asking if 'she was mad', the report says.
"Paul did not immediately leave the vehicle when she told him to 'get out.' Paul caused her to believe by his actions of entering the vehicle that he would cause her physical harm," the report said. He was ordered to pay a fine of $150 and complete 75 hours of community service.
Last year he was arrested by Italian police for flying a drone over the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, later posting the video on his channel.
In recent days Paul has said he is taking some time away from vlogging to "reflect" following the fallout from the forest video.
In the meantime the fate of his highly lucrative career on YouTube remains unclear. The platform that has helped catapult him to global fame and make him a multi-millionaire is now facing huge public pressure to remove his channel.
The company has taken measures against some of its most high-profile influencers who have attracted scandal in the past.
Last year YouTube cancelled its reality show with gaming vlogger PewDiePie and removed his channel from its premium advertising slot after he posted a video featuring anti-Semitic comments.
The company does have a range of sanctions it could employ against Paul, who it found to be in breach of its policy on graphic content, such as demonetising his account.
Yet for the moment, the company is declining to say whether it will take any punitive measures against Paul for the forest video, saying it does not comment on individual accounts.
WHERE TO GET HELP:
If you are worried about your or someone else's mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call 111. If you need to talk to someone, the following free helplines operate 24/7: DEPRESSION HELPLINE: 0800 111 757 LIFELINE: 0800 543 354 NEED TO TALK? Call or text 1737 SAMARITANS: 0800 726 666 YOUTHLINE: 0800 376 633 or text 234 There are lots of places to get support. For others, visit: https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/get-help/in-crisis/helplines/
