YouTube Execs on Logan Paul Scandal: ‘Actions Should Speak Louder Than Words’

At the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena today, YouTube took the stage to promote their upcoming slate of originals, including the Karate Kid series, Step Up: High Water and the basketball doc Best Shot. But before they could press play on the presentation, they had some explaining to do.

Particularly about the inexplicably popular YouTuber Logan Paul and their decision to yank the floppy haired “influencer” following his horrifically disrespectful video of a suicide victim hanging in the notorious Japanese suicide forest.

Noting that some of the streaming site’s “very young” content creators “get themselves in hot water,” Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl emphasized that Paul—whose channel was pulled shortly after the scandal erupted—was basically a rare bad apple among a huge stable of creatives who are not awful. “I want to make sure that we all recognize that a few missteps don’t spoil the work of all the hardworking creators on YouTube.”

When reminded of the previous uproar over comic vlogger PewDiePie’s anti-Semitic “jokes,” Kyncl remarked that YouTube’s decision to halt their relationship with Paul is indicative of their efforts to reduce these issues going forward.

“Specific to Logan, we believe he made unfortunate missteps. We’ve taken all of the appropriate actions and we stand by them. Actions should speak louder than words and Logan has the opportunity to prove that,” he added.

Until then, however, the streaming service has put all of Paul’s projects “all of his project on hold indefinitely,” said Kyncl, adding that it’s still too early to say if this is a permanent severing of ties. “We don’t know, we can’t really answer that… everything is evolving so fast.”