Logan Alexander Paul (born April 1, 1995) is an American
social media influencer,
professional wrestler,
YouTuber,
entrepreneur, and actor. He has over 23 million subscribers on his
YouTube channel, and has ranked on the Forbes list for the highest paid YouTube creators in 2017, 2018, and 2021.[1][2][3] He is the co-founder of beverage company
Prime. Paul has also run the Impaulsivepodcast since November 2018, which has over 4 million YouTube subscribers.[4] As a wrestler, he has been signed to
WWE since June 2022, where he performs on the
SmackDown brand and is the current
WWE United States Champion in his first reign.
Paul gained a following in 2013, posting sketches on the now-defunct video-sharing application
Vine.[5] He registered his first YouTube channel, TheOfficialLoganPaul, on October 18, 2013, where he started posting regularly following the closure of the Vine app.[6] He later created the Logan Paul Vlogs channel on August 29, 2015, which has since become his most-subscribed YouTube channel.[7] As of August 2023, the channel has received 23.6 million subscribers and almost 6 billion views.[8][7]
Paul has been involved in several controversies, most notably in relation to a trip to
Japan in December 2017, during which he visited the
Aokigahara forest (a notorious
suicide site), filmed himself finding the corpse of a suicide victim, and uploaded the footage to his YouTube channel.[11] Others include his promotion of scams and failed ventures, including
CryptoZoo—in which he failed to compensate more than $1.5 million to investors despite promising to do so.[12][13]
Early life
Logan Alexander Paul[14] was born in
Westlake, Ohio, on April 1, 1995,[15] to Pamela Ann Stepnick (née Meredith) and realtor Gregory Allan Paul.[16] He claims Irish, Welsh, Jewish, French and German ancestry.[17][18] He was raised in Westlake with his younger brother
Jake (born 1997), who is also a media personality.[19] Paul began creating videos for a YouTube channel called Zoosh when he was 10 years old.[20][21] He attended
Westlake High School, being named The Plain Dealer's All-Star football linebacker in 2012,[22] and qualifying for the state-level
Ohio High School Athletic Association 2013 Division I Wrestling Individual Championships.[23][24]
YouTube career
2015–2017: YouTube beginnings
By the time Paul began attending college, his YouTube channel had attained a modest following via the platform
Vine.[25] He majored in
industrial engineering at
Ohio University before dropping out in 2014 to pursue a career as a full-time social media entertainer in
Los Angeles,[19][26] moving into an apartment complex in the city with other Vine stars.[20][19]
Paul rose to fame as a member on the Internet video sharing service Vine.[27] In February 2014, he had over 3.1 million followers on various social media platforms.[28] By April 2014 he had attained 105,000
Twitter followers, 361,000
Instagram followers, 31,000 likes on his
Facebook page and about 150,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. A YouTube compilation video of his Vine work garnered more than four million views the first week it was posted.[25] In 2015 he was ranked as the 10th most influential figure on Vine, with his six-second videos earning him hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising revenue.[19] By that October, his Facebook videos alone had more than 300 million views.[20] Logan refers to his following as the "Logang", a
portmanteau of "Logan" and "
gang".[29]
In early 2015, Paul appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[30] He also appeared on the
Fox TV series Weird Loners, where he appeared in the role of the Paul Twins. He starred in two episodes of the
Freeform series Stitchers. In 2016, he starred in the
YouTube Red movie The Thinning opposite
Peyton List. In early 2016, Paul trained with drama coaches and the comedy troupes
The Groundlings and
Upright Citizens Brigade.[20] Paul wrote the screenplay for an adult comedy, Airplane Mode, which has been described as "
American Pie for
Gen Z", and by Paul himself as "Expendables with Internet stars".[20][31] The film was originally planned to be released in 2017, but was eventually released on August 2, 2019, after being delayed. He was also involved in a number of advertising campaigns, including for
Hanes,
PepsiCo, and
HBO.[20] In 2016,
Comcast purchased a short form digital TV series from Paul called Logan Paul VS.[32]
In February 2017,
Dwayne Johnson released a YouTube video entitled "Logan Paul has been cut from, like, all of The Rock's movies", in which he informs Paul that he has been cut from all of Johnson's films, and subsequently consoles him by making him the "ambassador" to his upcoming Baywatch feature film.[33] On November 23, 2017, Paul released his new single, "No Handlebars", a track that draws heavily on an interpolated sample of the song "
Handlebars" by the American alternative hip hop group
Flobots. The song was heavily criticized for its perceived sexual objectification of women, including a scene in its music video where Paul rides several women like a bicycle. Flobots frontman
Jamie Laurie lambasted Paul for both the "sexist" lyrical content of the song and for unauthorized use of the sample, calling him the face of "douchebag entitlement". Laurie would later go on to release a track with lyrics deriding Paul, titled "Handle Your Bars". Paul did not respond to Laurie's comments nor the backlash towards "No Handlebars".[34] After Flobots sued Paul for copyright infringement in 2019, he deleted the song from YouTube.[35]
2017–2018: Suicide forest controversy
On December 31, 2017, Paul uploaded a
vlog to his
YouTube channel depicting the recently deceased corpse of a man who had died by
hanging himself in
Aokigahara at the base of
Mount Fuji in Japan, known as the "suicide forest" due to its infamy as a
suicide site. Initially intended to be part three of his "Tokyo Adventures" series, Paul and his group had planned to camp in the woods, but in response to finding the corpse, decided to notify the authorities and cancel their plans. The video gained 6.3 million views within 24 hours of being uploaded.[11] Paul's video depicting the corpse, which was
censored, and his group's reactions to it, were criticized by celebrities and politicians.[36][37] In addition, he was accused by other members of the
YouTube community of being insensitive to suicide victims.[38] He was also criticized for other misbehavior he was captured taking part in during the trip, including climbing onto a moving forklift at the
Tsukiji fish market, removing his clothing on a crowded street and then proceeding to fight with one of his traveling companions, and throwing a giant
Poké Ball at passing citizens, including an officer of the
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.[39] Several petitions were posted to
Change.org urging YouTube to delete Paul's channel in light of the controversy, the largest of which received more than 720,000 signatures as of February 9, 2018.[40]
As a result of the backlash, Paul removed the video from his YouTube channel, following up with a written apology on Twitter on January 1, 2018. The following day, on January 2, a subsequent video apology was released to YouTube in which Paul admitted to making "a severe and continuous lapse in [his] judgement" and described his behavior as a "
coping mechanism", asking his fans to stop defending his actions in the process.[41][42][43] On January 9, YouTube issued a statement via Twitter condemning Paul's video: "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."[44] On January 10, YouTube announced it was removing Paul's channels from
Google Preferred, its preferred ad program, and
New World Order, the sequel to his YouTube film The Thinning, was placed on hold,[45][46] with the airing of Logan Paul VS. being halted as well. He was also cut from season 4 of the YouTube Red series Foursome and the role of Alec Fixler was terminated.[47]
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer postponed the release of the film Valley Girl, featuring Paul, following the controversies.[48] On January 15, Paul was seen at
LAX by reporters from
TMZ. He said that he has learned a lot from his mistakes and believes he has been treated "fairly". When asked whether or not he deserves a second chance, Paul replied, "Everyone deserves second chances, bro."[49] In response, he donated $1 million to
suicide prevention agencies, a quarter of which is going to the
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.[50] In response to the controversy, Paul hired Mike Majlak, a former marketing manager at furniture company
LoveSac, to "make sure that no bad things happen" and work with Logan to help improve his reputation.[51] On February 4, Paul officially returned to his daily vlogs on YouTube after taking a 3-week-long hiatus.[52] YouTube CEO
Susan Wojcicki said on February 12 that Paul did not violate YouTube's three-strike policy and did not meet the criteria for being banned from the platform.[53] In the wake of the controversy regarding the suicide video, Maverick Apparel, a brand for juniors and children, threatened Paul with legal action for giving his clothing line a similar name ("Maverick by Logan Paul"), believing shoppers are confusing their line with Paul's, resulting in a deep decline in sales.[54][55]
2018–present: boxing, podcast, and further controversies
On February 9, 2018, YouTube
suspended all
advertising on Paul's channels due to his "pattern of behavior", referring to a joke he tweeted about the
Tide Pod challenge, removing a fish from his pond to "jokingly give it
CPR", and
tasering two dead rats.[56] His revenue was temporarily halted as a result,[57] and as a result of the suspension, he broadcast live on
Twitch for the first time.[58] Two weeks later, on February 26, YouTube restored ads on Paul's channel; however, his channel was still on a 90-day "probation period" during which time content from his channel was not eligible to be on YouTube's trending tab.[59]
On November 20, 2018, the first episode of Impaulsive was aired.[60] In January 2019, Paul remarked on his Impaulsive podcast, "What is it, male-only March? We're gonna attempt to go
gay for just one month." He received widespread criticism for implying that being gay is a choice, with
LGBTQ+ organization
GLAAD responding to Paul's statement on Twitter, writing, "That's not how it works, Logan Paul."[61] In March 2019, Paul released what has been described as a
mockumentary exploring the
Flat Earth Theory. In the video, he interviewed many self-proclaimed "
Flat Earthers", and spoke at the 2018 Flat Earth International Conference, which took place in
Denver, Colorado.[62] Logan Paul was sued by Planeless Pictures in December 2020 for the aforementioned 2017 incident in Aokigahara, when he posted a video including a recently deceased suicide victim. Planeless Pictures accused him of posting the video in order to escape a movie deal he had with them where he would star in, write, and produce their film
Airplane Mode. They also claimed that the video led to
Google suspending their contract with them, leaving them $3 million in debt.[63]
In September 2021, Paul released an
NFT-based game called
CryptoZoo,[65] which was mocked for using
stock images and was poorly received.[66][65] In December 2022, YouTuber
Coffeezilla released a docuseries exposing the game's lack of functionality despite substantial funding.[67] Criticisms included marketing towards children and pre-launch cryptocurrency purchases by the team. Paul disputed these allegations, threatened legal action against Coffeezilla, and later deleted his response video.[68] In January 2023, Paul apologized and promised a $1.3 million refund for NFT holders.[69] By February 2023, Paul faced a class-action lawsuit from investors.[70] A refund program began in January 2024, where Paul offered refunds to those agreeing not to sue,[71] and he also filed a counter-claim against co-defendants.[72] In June 2024, Paul decided to sue Coffeezilla for defamation, despite his earlier apologies.[72][73]
Paul was criticised in January 2023 when his former pet pig, named "Pearl", was found abandoned by The Gentle Barn Sanctuary in California, USA.[74] Rescuers said she was "lucky to be alive" after being diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening uterus infection, which they said has since healed. Despite facing online criticism, Paul denied any wrongdoing, stating that he responsibly rehomed the pig in 2021 when he moved to
Puerto Rico, and that the pig was subsequently rehomed again unbeknownst to him at a later date.[74]
On February 3, 2018, following his
white collar amateur boxing match with Joe Weller, British YouTuber
KSI challenged Paul to a boxing match.[75] On February 24, 2018, it was announced that Paul and his brother would be fighting KSI and his younger brother, Deji, in two white-collar boxing matches.[76] The fight ended as a majority draw, with two judges scoring the fight even at 57–57 and a third judge scoring 58–57 in favor of KSI.[77]
On September 4, 2019, it was announced that Paul would be making his professional boxing debut in a rematch against KSI, which would be broadcast exclusively on
DAZN in the United States.[78] The fight was scheduled to take place on November 9 at the
Staples Center.[78] At the UK press conference for the rematch, Paul again stirred controversy as he accused KSI of having five abortions, before remarking, "Five babies dead. I might return the favor and kill you." He received criticism from
abortion rights activists, who described his comment as "horrific", while
anti-abortion activists came to his defense. Paul responded by stating, "I said something distasteful and insensitive."[79]
The rematch, which consisted of six three minute rounds, resulted in a win for KSI via
split decision, with two judges scoring the fight 57–54 and 56–55 for KSI, and one judge scoring it 56–55 in favor of Paul.[80]
On December 6, 2020, it was announced that Paul would face former
five-division world championFloyd Mayweather Jr. in an exhibition bout on February 20, 2021.[81] The fight was postponed, and took place on June 6, 2021, at
Hard Rock Stadium in
Miami Gardens, Florida.[82] On May 6, 2021, Mayweather and Paul met for the first time at a press conference at Hard Rock Stadium, where the latter's brother,
Jake Paul, became involved in an angry brawl with Mayweather when he removed Mayweather's hat from his head.[83] A visibly irate Mayweather was captured on video saying, "I'll kill you motherfucker! Are you crazy? I'll fuck you up, motherfucker. I don't play motherfucking games. I'll fuck you up."[84]
The bout consisted of constant
clinching initiated by Paul and went the full distance to the sound of boos from the crowd, with no winner being announced.[85] Mayweather's superior boxing was reflected by the
CompuBox punch stats, with Mayweather having landed 43 punches of 107 thrown (40.2%), compared to Paul's 28 landed of 217 thrown (12.9%).[86]
In his post-fight interview, Mayweather praised his opponent, saying: "He's better than I thought he was ... he's a tough, rough competitor." Paul appeared to harbor some doubt about how seriously Mayweather had taken the fight, saying: "I'm going to go home thinking, 'Did Floyd let me survive?'"[87] Mayweather later stated that he did hold back saying "If it was a real fight, it would've been a blowout in the first round."[88]
Danis repeatedly shared pictures of Paul's fiancee
Nina Agdal with other men and sometimes partially or fully nude during the build-up to the fight, and he was served with a lawsuit as a result.[92] The bout ended in the sixth round when Danis attempted a takedown and an illegal choke. Several members of security entered the ring and a brawl broke out, resulting in Danis being disqualified and Paul was declared the winner.[93]
On the April 2, 2021, episode of SmackDown, Paul made his
WWE debut as a guest of
Sami Zayn for his red carpet premiere of his documentary, with Zayn later inviting Paul to be at ringside for his match at
WrestleMania 37 against
Kevin Owens.[99] At the event, after Owens defeated Zayn, Paul celebrated with Owens before being hit with the Stunner by Owens.[100] On the September 3 episode of SmackDown, Paul returned to WWE as
Happy Corbin's special guest on '"The KO Show'", where Paul helped Corbin attack Owens.[101]
On the February 21, 2022, episode of Raw, it was revealed that Paul was
The Miz's tag team partner to take on
Rey Mysterio and
Dominik Mysterio at
WrestleMania 38.[102] At the event, Paul and Miz defeated the Mysterios; however, after the match, Miz attacked Paul, turning Paul
face.[103]
On June 30, 2022, Paul signed a multi-event contract with WWE.[104][105] Following this, Paul wanted to avenge the attack from Miz at WrestleMania and subsequently defeated him at
SummerSlam.[106] Paul then challenged
Roman Reigns on the September 16 episode of SmackDown,[107] and the two faced each other at
Crown Jewel on November 5 for Reigns'
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (the umbrella term for both the
WWE Championship and
WWE Universal Championship being held and defended together). Paul was unsuccessful in defeating Reigns, despite interference from his Impaulsive entourage and his brother Jake, marking his first loss in WWE in what was only his third match. The match against Reigns received universal acclaim, with critics highly praising Paul's wrestling skills.[108] It was initially reported that Paul had suffered a torn meniscus, MCL, and ACL during the match, however, it was later revealed that Paul had only sprained his meniscus and MCL.[109]
On January 28, 2023, Paul made his return from injury as a
heel at the
Royal Rumble in the
Royal Rumble match at #29. During the match, Paul had an encounter with Ricochet that led to both men leaping off the top rope from both sides of the ring, and colliding with each other mid-air. The spot garnered a massive crowd and social media reaction, with many deeming it one of the best moments of the match. He would go on to eliminate
Seth "Freakin" Rollins before being eliminated by the eventual winner
Cody Rhodes.[110] At
Elimination Chamber on February 18, Paul snuck into the
Elimination Chamber match and cost Rollins the
United States Championship, turning heel in the process.[111] On the March 6 episode of Raw, a match between Paul and Rollins was scheduled for
WrestleMania 39.[112] On Night 1 of the event, Paul lost to Rollins; the match also saw an appearance from Paul's Prime co-owner KSI, who was dressed as a Prime bottle.[113] Like his match against Reigns the year prior, the match received high praise from critics, and initially, it was the final match of Paul's initial contract. However, a week later, Paul signed a new multi-year contract with WWE. The new contract would see more involvement and appearances from Paul with Paul himself stating he wanted to win a WWE championship.[114]
In the
2023 WWE Draft in late April–early May, Paul was deemed a free agent, allowing him to appear on both Raw and SmackDown. Paul then made his first appearance since Night 1 of WrestleMania 39 on the June 19, 2023, episode of Raw, where he announced that he had been added to the men's
Money in the Bank ladder match, which took place at the
namesake event.[115] During the match, in which Paul was unsuccessful at winning, he and Ricochet would
botch a
Spanish fly from the top rope.[116] This led to a match at
SummerSlam, where Paul defeated Ricochet after using
brass knuckles.[117]
United States Champion (2023–present)
On October 14, 2023, after defeating
Dillon Danis in a boxing match at
MF & DAZN: X Series 10 – The Prime Card, Paul called out United States Champion Rey Mysterio.[118] On the October 20, 2023, episode of SmackDown, Mysterio accepted Paul's challenge for a title match at
Crown Jewel.[119] At the event on November 4, Paul won the United States Championship after using brass knuckles on Mysterio, thus winning his first WWE championship.[120] Paul made his first appearance as champion on the December 1 episode of SmackDown, where he announced a tournament to determine his first challenger at the
Royal Rumble, which was won by
Kevin Owens.[121] During the match at the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2024,
Austin Theory and
Grayson Waller gave Paul brass knuckles to use on Owens, only for Owens to use them on Paul instead. However, the referee caught Owens with the brass knuckles in his hand, giving Paul the victory by disqualification to retain the title.[122] On the February 16 episode of SmackDown, Paul defeated The Miz in his first televised match in WWE to qualify for the men's
Elimination Chamber match at
Elimination Chamber: Perth. At the event, he was eliminated by
Randy Orton but later returned to hit him with brass knuckles, costing him the match.[123] On Night 2 of
WrestleMania XL, Paul successfully defended the United States Championship against Randy Orton and Kevin Owens in a
triple threat match[124] after an assist by
IShowSpeed.[125]
On the May 10 episode of SmackDown, SmackDown General Manager
Nick Aldis announced that Paul would be the next opponent against
Undisputed WWE ChampionCody Rhodes and a
Champion vs. Champion match was scheduled for
King and Queen of the Ring.[126] On the following episode, during the contract signing for the match, the contract stated that the match would be for both titles. However, when Paul was about to sign the contract, he tore it up, before bringing out his own contract, which stated that only Rhodes' title would be on the line. After Paul mocked Rhodes, he signed the contract, confirming that the match would only be for Rhodes' title.[127] At the event on May 25, Paul failed to win the title from Rhodes after interference from special guest ring announcer Ibrahim Al Hajjaj.[128]
In October 2015, Paul lived in the same apartment complex on
Hollywood and Vine in
Hollywood, California as other social media celebrities including
Amanda Cerny,
Juanpa Zurita, and
Andrew Bachelor, with his roommates Mark Dohner and
Evan Eckenrode. This proximity facilitated various collaborations on their respective videos.[27] In October 2017, Paul and Eckenrode relocated to an estate in
Encino, California.[130] In a 2020 episode of Impaulsive, Paul described himself as a Christian who was "not overly religious".[131] In February 2021, Paul announced that he would be moving to
Dorado, Puerto Rico from Los Angeles. He stated that the high taxes in California were the main motivator for the move.[132] As of June 2021, he was living there in a $13 million mansion.[133]
In 2022, Paul began dating Danish model
Nina Agdal. In July 2023, he proposed to Agdal at
Lake Como in Italy, and they subsequently announced their engagement on
Instagram.[134][135] In April 2024, Paul announced that he and Agdal were expecting their first child, a girl, in the fall of 2024.[136]
Health
Paul said in an episode of Impaulsive that he tore the cartilage in his knee playing football, requiring him to stay out of school for 3 months.[137] In February 2019, Paul said that he has long-term
brain damage, which he sustained from playing high school football. He stated that
Daniel Amen, the doctor who diagnosed him, says it affects his ability to have
empathy and a human connection with others.[138][139] When filming a video for his Vine channel in 2014, Paul attempted a stunt during which he landed on a chair and damaged his right testicle.[140]
^"High School Sports Cleveland". How national Vine video star Logan Paul went from Westlake standout athlete to master of 6-second comedy (videos). April 22, 2014.
Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
^McCurry, Justin (January 2, 2018).
"YouTube star Logan Paul apologises for film of man's body in Japan". The Guardian.
Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2018. British Labour MP Melanie Onn, who had tweeted that she bought a Logan Paul hoodie as a Christmas present for her 10-year-old son, said the video was 'dreadful'...
^Blake, Emily; September 17, Noelene Clark Updated; EDT, 2015 at 12:00 PM.
"Streamy Awards 2015: The full winners list". Entertainment Weekly.
Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved April 29, 2022.{{
cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)