Logan Paul suddenly left the set of his own podcast, Impaulsive, after guest Tana Mongeau referenced the notoriously controversial 2017 video he made in Japan involving the bodies of suicide victims.
The show started normally, with Mongeau, Paul, and Mike Majlak talking about everything from Anthony Joshua’s boxing match with Jake Paul to Vine’s possible comeback. There was even a joke about Majlak supposedly putting money down on a sex robot, which sounds exactly like a typical Impaulsive conversation.
The tone shifted instantly when Paul was talking about the world’s strongest man losing a tug-of-war to a group of kids.
This joke crossed the line
Co-host Mike Majlak immediately saw a chance when Paul said the word “rope.” Majlak signaled Tana Mongeau to use that word as a setup for a joke about the Aokigahara forest controversy. Mongeau immediately understood and explained the setup, saying, “Mike is being really silly right now. ‘Rope’ is a good time for me to make my classic suicide forest joke on Impaulsive, and he [Majlak] tried to lay me up.”
She even said she questioned whether Paul was in the mood for that kind of humor, and then called it “low-hanging fruit” in what she described as an accidental pun. That was the breaking point. Paul immediately pushed his microphone out of the way, buried his face in his hands, and walked right off the podcast set.
To understand Paul’s reaction, you need to remember the background of the 2017 incident. Paul and his friends traveled to the Aokigahara forest near Mount Fuji, widely known as a place where many people go to take their own lives. While filming there, Paul and his crew found a dead man. The video that followed, which was posted in 2018, showed close-up shots of the apparent suicide victim.
The video created an international backlash. The group was criticized not only for showing the man’s body to millions of viewers but also for making jokes while standing near the victim. Paul faced massive criticism and eventually took the video down, expressing deep regret.
He later publicly apologized for his actions, stating clearly, “I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through.” He added that he was “disappointed” and “ashamed” with himself for how he handled the situation, which makes it clear why the topic is still too sensitive for the podcast.
So his reaction makes total sense. When you watch the footage, it’s pretty terrible that Mongeau and Majlak started laughing as he left the room. It just shows you how deeply sensitive this matter still is for Paul, even now, and bringing it up for a cheap joke is a really bad look for everyone involved.
