An American YouTube star says he does not expect to be forgiven after he posted a video which showed the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan.
The video showed Logan Paul and friends discovering the body in the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji, known to be a frequent site of suicides.
It prompted a barrage of criticism online with some comments calling it “disrespectful” and “disgusting”.
Logan Paul later apologised and said he was “misguided by shock and awe”.
“I have made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgement, and I don’t expect to be forgiven,” he said in a video apology posted to Twitter.
“I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through. There’s a lot of things I should have done differently, but I didn’t”, he said.
“I’m ashamed of myself,” he added. “I’m disappointed in myself.”
The video was uploaded on Sunday and had millions of views on YouTube before it was taken down.
Logan Paul, who has more than 15 million subscribers on the website, is visibly shocked by the discovery of the body but also makes jokes.
Japan has one of the highest rates of suicide in the developed world.
Aokigahara has a tragic reputation in Japan and internationally as a destination for people who want to kill themselves.
Data on the number of suicides there each year is not made public, to avoid publicising the site. Signs are posted in the forest urging people to seek medical help rather than take their lives.
The 15-minute video is part of a series of posts from Japan where the US vlogger is on a trip with friends.
They go on a visit to the forest intending to focus on the “haunted” aspect of it, he says in the video.
After walking a short distance into the forest, the group come across a body.
The group is filmed approaching the body, which is shown in several close-ups where only the face is blurred out.
A member of the group is heard off camera saying he “doesn’t feel good”. Paul then asks him: “What, you never stand next to a dead guy?” He then laughs.
The identity of the deceased man is not known.
‘Garbage person’
By Monday, Logan Paul’s name was trending globally on Twitter. Though some people said he had helped raise awareness, the comments were overwhelmingly negative.
Online comments have accused him of acting inappropriately and being disrespectful. Some have called for his entire channel to be removed from YouTube.
Some supporters insisted he should be forgiven for what they said was a mistake, with one tweeting: “You still are the best out there and always will be” with the hashtag #Logan_you_are_forgiven.
But in an apology posted on his Twitter page, Paul, of Westlake, Ohio, said: “For my fans who are defending my actions – please don’t. They do not deserve to be defended.”
He also said he wanted to “make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity”, by raising awareness of suicide and suicide prevention.
Paul says in the video that he is not making money from the content. YouTube, which pays content providers for videos that garner above a certain number of hits, did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
If you are feeling emotionally distressed and would like details of organisations which offer advice and support, click here. In the UK you can call for free, at any time, to hear recorded information on 0800 066 066. In Japan you can get help here.
