With millennials and generation Z growing up in an age that idolizes internet sensations and online stars, the ease of both the rise to fame and the eventual downfall has increased drastically. Recently, Logan Paul, a 22 year old YouTube star, has been accumulating a large amount of backlash for a recent vlog titled “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest…” which was posted on December 31 on YouTube. With 6.3 million views, the video became number 10 on YouTube’s trending videos. Although taken down within 24 hours, many people voiced opinion through social media like Twitter, disparaging both Paul and YouTube for the release of content to the public.

The video, only 15 minutes long, is about Paul and his friends as they venture into Japan’s sacred Aokigahara forest, also known to the Japanese as the “suicide forest,” to go camping. Wanting to focus on the “horror” aspect of the forest, Paul’s group stumble upon a dead man’s body, a suicide that had appeared to happen earlier that day. Shocked, all five members headed towards the body while making remarks about suicide, mental illness and the deceased body itself, all the while repeatedly zooming in and presenting a full-view of the hanging man, blurring the face for identity protection.

The Aokigahara forest, a sacred 30 kilometers square forest which serves as a final resting place for many tormented souls, is known for the overwhelming number of suicides. The forest is second only to the Golden Gate Bridge in California in the world. Although the number of bodies who succeed in suicide is unknown – due to the government’s desire for minimal publicity – the amount is large enough to need patrol groups as well as body-recovery volunteers. With its reputation for a high number of deaths, many of Paul’s viewers do not believe that Logan Paul was not expecting to find what he did.

“What you’ve never stood by a dead guy before?” Paul mocks in his video before nervously laughing to his companions as they stand mere feet from the hanging corpse. At the beginning of the video, Paul puts a disclaimer stating that those needing help should seek help, as well as stating, “Suicide is not a joke, depression and mental illness are not a joke. We came here with an intent to focus on the ‘haunted’ aspect of the forest. This obviously just became very real, and obviously a lotta people are going through a lotta sh*t in their lives.”

Along with suicide awareness, Paul also demonetized the video. At the end of the video, after leaving the forest, Paul pulls a bottle of sake out. “I ain’t gonna be sober for this sh*t,” Paul announced as he started to down shots. “Me smiling and laughing is not a portrayal of how I feel about the circumstances. Everyone copes with sh*t differently,” Paul later stated in the video.

Many people are expressing disgust for the video. They allege that not only did Paul not put down his cameras, but he also had time to reflect while editing and creating the thumbnail – which included the dead body as part of the image – yet he still chose to post as well as promote via Twitter to his 15 million fan base, ages ranging from 14 and older. Neglecting not only his American audience as well as Japan’s tradition of keeping death private, he has received many negative responses from both parties.

He later issued an apology both written and through video. “I want to apologize to the internet. I want to apologize to anyone who’s seen the video. I want to apologize to anyone who has been affected or touched by mental illness, or depression, or suicide. But most importantly, I want to apologize to the victim and his family. To my fans who are defending my actions, please don’t. They do not deserve to be defended,” Paul said.