YouTube cuts star from projects over Japan suicide victim video

NEW YORK: YouTube on Wednesday punished one of its stars, American Logan Paul, over a video that showed a suicide victim in a forest near Mount Fuji – by scrapping two projects and lowering his advertising profile.
The video shows the 22-year-old discovering a body in Aokigahara, a dense woodland at the foot of the mountain known as "the Japanese Suicide Forest", in a country that has long struggled with some of the highest suicide rates in the developed world.
Japanese social media erupted with indignation over the film, which showed a man who had hanged himself.
Outtakes showing Paul laughing and joking about the incident also stirred anger.
Paul has a massive teenage and preteen fan base.
The video sharing site decided to drop Paul from projects on its YouTube Red subscription platform for original content, a spokesman said Wednesday.
They include a sequel to his film "The Thinning" and a leading role in the fourth season of "Foursome".