Logan Paul is being sued over claims his notorious suicide forest video led to a movie being axed.
Back on December 31, 2017, the YouTuber sparked outrage after he filmed the body of a man who had taken his own life in Japan’s Aokigahara forest, known as the ‘suicide forest’.
The video led to YouTube removing Logan from their Google Preferred programme, the sequel to his YouTube movie being scrapped, and the star being axed from the YouTube red series Foursome.
Now, a production company is suing Logan, claiming it lost $3 million (£2.2m) due to the stunt.
Planeless Pictures had signed a deal with the vlogger in 2016 to make a movie called Airplane Mode, in which Logan would star as a fictionalised version of himself.
According to the documents seen by TMZ, the company claims that Logan signed a deal to star in, write and help produce Airplane Mode, and agreed to help get other influencers, including his brother Jake Paul, Juanpa Zureta, Nick Bateman and Amanda Cerny, involved.
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Planeless’s plan was that they would distribute the movie via YouTube and the influencers’ various social media platforms, and thay claim that Google signed a $3m licensing deal with them.
However, Google axed the deal after Logan’s infamous 2017 video, and Planeless alleges that Logan deliberately posted the video knowing that it would destroy the movie and the deal.
Airplane Mode was eventually released online in February 2019 after premiering at the Mammoth Film Festival, two years after the trailer dropped.
The synopsis for the film said: ‘En route to the world’s largest social media convention in Australia, Logan Paul is scared to death; today is his first time flying. All of his worst nightmares come true when the passengers refuse to switch their phones to airplane mode, causing the plane’s controls to go haywire and electrocuting the pilots.
‘Amidst the chaos, Juanpa Zurita (Logan’s foreign exchange brother) has one goal: to lose his virginity or die trying. It’s up to Logan to overcome his fears, defeat a Russian psychopath on the loose, and save the day. Co-starring Chloe Bridges, Amanda Cerny, King Bach, Nick Bateman, Lele Pons, Roman Atwood, Casey Neistat, Brittany Furlan, and many more, the internet is about to crash and explode.’
Following the shocking Japan video, Logan issued an apology, saying: ‘I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down.’
He also apologised to the victim’s family, and the video was removed from YouTube.
While it was a huge scandal at the time, Logan’s career has gone from strength to strength, with his podcast channel Impaulsive achieving over 2.7 million subscribers.
His boxing career has also flourished, with Logan set to fight Floyd Mayweather in February.
In a recent Instagram post, the 26-year-old suggested he regretted some of his actions as a young YouTuber, as he posted a picture of himself in 2017 holding up wads of cash.
Logan wrote: ‘Posting this because I detest this version of myself. I cringe at my old videos and hate that I let money and fame turn me into an intolerable a*****e.
‘I acknowledge this phase as a benchmark of youth and my journey, but glad it’s over and I learned as much as I did from it.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted a rep for Paul for comment.
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