YouTube Puts Logan Paul Film On Hold, Removes Him From Preferred Program

1/10/2018 by Rania Aniftos

Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images for Rolling Stone

Internet personality Logan Paul at the Rolling Stone Live: Houston presented by Budweiser and Mercedes-Benz on Feb. 4, 2017 in Houston, Texas.

YouTube has put its original projects with vlogger Logan Paul on hold, 11 days after he faced heavy backlash over an insensitive video he posted featuring a suicide victim.

The streaming service removed Paul from its Google Preferred program, which gives brands access to the top 5 percent of creators on the platform for ad-selling, the platform announced Wednesday (Jan. 10).

"In light of recent events, we have decided to remove Logan Paul’s channels from Google Preferred," a YouTube spokeswoman said in a statement. "Additionally, we will not feature Logan in season four of ‘Foursome’ and his new Originals are on hold."

As a result, whether or not The Thinning: A New World Order will launch is still unclear. The film was a sequel to Paul’s hit YouTube Red thriller The Thinning and was expected to air later this year.

Paul has since deleted the original video filmed in Aokigahara Forest, also known as Japan’s suicide forest. He posted two apology videos for his 15 million subscribers and announced a break from YouTube to reflect on his actions.

Paul’s channel also received a strike from YouTube. Three strikes within a three-month period will cause the platform to terminate an account. After facing public criticism from those who felt YouTube didn’t do enough to properly address the issue, the company released a statement on January 9 explaining that it would look into further consequences: “Suicide is not a joke, nor should it ever be a driving force for views."