YouTuber Logan Paul shares suicide prevention video and says he wants to ‘learn from the past’ after dead body footage backlash
LOGAN Paul has launched a new bid to salvage his reputation by posting a YouTube clip dedicated to suicide prevention - after filming a man who had killed himself in a forest.
The disgraced multi-millionaire also vowed to donate $1million to suicide prevention charities in a seven-minute clip recorded just weeks after he sparked global outrage.
YouTuber Paul, 22, was heard laughing and yelling, "Yo, are you alive?" at the corpse during his original 15-minute clip filmed at the base of Japan's Mount Fuji.
He was then dropped from the channel's "preferred programme" after being roundly blasted for trivialising the true tragedy of suicide.
Despite more than 500,000 people signing a petition to delete his account he has remained online and now claims he has learnt his lesson.
"I have been given an opportunity to make a difference in the world," said Paul in the video posted on Wednesday evening.
It shows the American meeting suicide survivors including Kevin Hines who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco aged just 19.
Paul said. "He is one of the many incredible people I've been grateful to meet over the past three weeks as I aim to further understand the complexities surrounding suicide.
"I know I've made mistakes. I know I've let people down."
The video shows Paul talking to people who are educated on the issue of suicide, including Hines, who regrets his suicide attempt.
"I would just put my hand on my shoulder and I would just say, 'I'm here for you, I got you,'" Hines told Paul.
"We need to be a society that comes together for every person in the community that's going through hell."
Paul admitted he was previously ignorant on the issue of suicide.
But since his infamous upload, he talked to those who work for America's National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
"It's time to learn from the past as I get better and grow as a human being," he said in the new video.
"I'm here to have a hard conversation so those who are suffering can have easier ones."
Later he added: "I think as a society, as human beings, we have to be more compassionate. And that includes me too.
"That's something I'm learning along this journey."
He has revealed he is now to give the Lifeline the first $250,000 of his $1m pledge. The rest will be split between other charities.
His offending video remained online for 24 hours and was viewed by six million people until Mr Paul deleted it.
YouTube admitted that no human moderators had reviewed the material, despite thousands of complaints.
Last week the online star said he deserved a "second chance" saying he had learnt his lesson.
Paul faced his online fame and income being wiped out after the video giant removed him from their Google Preferred section.
He was forced to apologise after his video of a man hanging in Japan's "suicide forest" was slammed for being insensitive.
In the clip a camera zoomed into the man's body, while Paul asks his tour guide: "Did we just find a dead person in the suicide forest hanging?"
YouTube's Preferred Programme allows companies to sell adverts on the top 5 per cent of content creators, meaning Paul will be hit in the wallet after his gaffe.
A statement from the company said: "In light of recent events, we have decided to remove Logan Paul's channels from Google Preferred.
"Additionally, we will not feature Logan in season four of Foursome and his new Originals are on hold."
The clip uploaded by Paul on December 31, had millions of views on YouTube before it was taken down.
After the video was removed, Paul - who has 15 million YouTube subscribers - posted a written apology to Twitter, saying his intention was to "raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention".
He added: "I didn't do it for the views... I did it because I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity.
"I intended to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention and while I thought 'if this video saves one life, it'll be worth it,' I was misguided by shock and awe."
On Tuesday, YouTube said it was looking at "further consequences" after the posting of the video.
In a series of tweets, the company 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."
Celebrities joined in condemning his video.
Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul told the YouTuber to "go rot in hell" while Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner branded him an "idiot" who doesn't "deserve success".
Paul, who lives in LA, averages over 20 million views on some of his daily vlogs.
He shot to fame on app Vine where he shared six-second comedy videos before moving on to YouTube where he has made a 15-minute show every day for more than 460 days.
The comic claimed he was visiting the forest with his crew to focus on the "haunted aspect" of the forest.
If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Samaritans on (free) 116123 or 020 7734 2800