One of YouTube’s top-earning stars, Jake Paul, has been arrested after filming himself amid looters ransacking a US mall.
The social media influencer, who has more than 20 million subscribers, was charged with criminal trespass and unlawful assembly in Arizona and is due to appear in court on Monday.
He denies any role in the chaotic scenes of vandalism and theft.
Paul claims he was merely "documenting" events after peaceful anti-racism protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died while being arrested by police in Minneapolis days earlier, gave way to looting in US towns and cities, including Scottsdale, near Phoenix.
The multi-millionaire was among white influencers criticised for capitalising on events for income-generating content in the wake of Mr Floyd’s death.
Police in Scottsdale said officers were sent “hundreds of tips and video identifying” Paul - who attended with his cameraman - as “a participant in the riot”, which unfolded around Scottsdale Fashion Square mall on Sunday night.
Footage shows Paul inside the centre as thieves force their way into shops to take goods and others film scenes on their phones. The YouTuber is heard saying: “I’m not doing nothing”.
In videos uploaded to Instagram, the web star walks along as looters smash the glass of a Swarovski shop and bash car windows, while another clip apparently shows him handling a bottle of vodka.
In a statement, Scottsdale police said: “Our investigation has revealed that Paul was present after the protest was declared an unlawful assembly and the rioters were ordered to leave the area by the police.
“Paul also unlawfully entered and remained inside of the mall when it was closed.
“As a result, Paul has been charged with Criminal Trespass and Unlawful Assembly (both misdemeanour charges).
“He was issued a summons to appear in court in a month.”
In his most recent response video, titled The Looting Situation Explained, Paul said he was present as he wanted to “support” protests in Arizona by witnessing and filming events, but was not in league with those "trashing and stealing stuff”.
Paul claims the story was “twisted and exploited by the media”.
He said: “People became mad at me because they assumed me and my friends were looting, vandalising and breaking down storefronts, and that’s the way it looked on camera.
“However, that isn’t the case.”
In his version of Sunday night’s event, the influencer said he had initially “followed people to where everyone said that the protests were happening."
“Quite frankly I was in shock and didn’t know what to make of the situation”, he said.
The YouTuber further claimed he was blasted with tear gas by police as he looked on while an Apple Store was attacked and the crowd responded by throwing rocks.
Paul said: “I start choking, coughing, running backwards and was completely in shock."
Then Paul said there he saw a group of trying to break into a Chinese bistro, called P.F. Chang's, before witnessing large numbers of looters inside the mall.
He further claims the bottle of vodka he was seen holding in video footage had been “handed” to him by a stranger.
The internet star said that hindsight he “shouldn’t have been anywhere near what was going on and we should have removed ourselves from the situation.
“But in the heat of the moment I wanted to document what was going on and witness it for myself, and that’s where I made the poor decision to go inside of the mall.”
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