You would think, after the scandal over his video featuring a suicide victim, Logan Paul would simply have stayed a bit under the radar. He’s spent several weeks trying to deal with the fallout of the scandal, including several projects getting canceled and an apology tour. But apparently not, as a recent video of his — featuring the YouTube star tasering of dead rats — has forced YouTube to pull ads entirely.
Variety reports that YouTube higher-ups have cut off Paul’s revenue stream on the site, removing ads from his channels temporarily and age-restricting his content:
In addition, he fired a Taser on a dead rat in his most recent video, as YouTube noted in announcing its decision to pull ads from Logan’s channels. YouTube also has age-restricted access to Logan Paul’s videos. “After careful consideration, we have decided to temporarily suspend ads on Logan Paul’s YouTube channels,” YouTube said in a statement Friday. “This is not a decision we made lightly; however, we believe he has exhibited a pattern of behavior in his videos that makes his channel not only unsuitable for advertisers, but also potentially damaging to the broader creator community.”
Removing the ads hits Paul in the wallet, but the age gate also cuts into his viewership. More to the point, however, is that YouTube is acknowledging Paul’s antics might have negative effects well outside his channel. YouTube has spent most of 2017 and all of 2018, at this point, attempting to redress the behavior of figures like Pewdiepie, the site’s biggest star before coming under fire for anti-Semitic and racist statements on his channels, among other scandals. This has generally been followed by waves of “demonetization,” changes to YouTube policy that make it harder to make a living off the site and that may reflect a sudden drop in advertising revenue.
Paul has yet to comment on the latest scandal. But it seems likely that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him, although things may get worse. The Daily Beast notes Paul recently asked fans to buy his merchandise to help him defray the cost of his $7 million home.
(via Variety and The Daily Beast)