Vlogger Logan Paul hosted LGBTQ activist Josh Seefried on his ‘Impaulsive’ podcast Tuesday to address remarks he made earlier this month during a New Years Resolutions show. Paul had announced that he would be “going gay” for the month of March, and drew fire for the offensive remarks.
Said Paul after the podcast aired: “I made a huge mistake. I don’t expect to be forgiven, I’m just here to apologize.”
Paul made headlines in 2018 over a clip he posted to his 15 million subscribers in which he mocked a dead body he filmed in Japan’s “suicide forest” at Aokigahara, Mt. Fuji. Paul showed a dead body and laughed about it. When he got close to the body, he asked, “Yo are you alive? Are you fu**king with us?” and took note of the body’s purple hands. Paul later deleted the video and posted an apology to Twitter.
This week, Paul invited LGBTQ activist Josh Seefried (who founded the gay military group Outserve) to his podcast to talk about the “going gay” controversy.
Paul apologized for his “poor choice of words” as the show opened, and then asked Seefried, “Did my comment offend you personally?”
“Absolutely,” said Seefried. Seefried explained to Paul about the influence his remarks have over other young people.
Asked Paul to Seefried: “So if I want to hook up with dudes for a month in March, I can’t do that?”
Replied Seefried: “Are you making that as a joke, or are you being legitimate? If you genuinely want to experiment with men, that’s a different thing than saying, ’Hey, I’m gonna go gay for a month,’ making a joke.”
Paul later said that being gay is not a choice: “Going gay is not a choice. That is not what I implied by saying that. That is the narrative that the media decided to run with. I’ve never thought that. I think who you are attracted to is innate to who you are, that it’s genetic and that’s that. I’ve thought that my whole life.”
Paul argued that he believes it is “courageous” and “cool” to be gay and that “sexuality is so fluid these days” that it’s not a big deal to just “go gay” for a month.
Added Paul: “This is important for me because I am a huge proponent of the LGBTQ community. And I always have been. I love it. I love the movement and I’m sorry I’m getting so fired up….This hurts me because I am such a pro-gay dude…‘I do feel like there’s a pile of rocks on me. As you know, I have been at the center of public controversy. But I do feel like there’s a magnifying glass on me now.”
Paul then tried to justify his words by playing a clip of Joe Rogan saying Donald Trump would turn women gay, a statement which Paul pointed out got no media attention.
Replied Seefried: “Shame on you for trying to deflect your own actions. You’re deflecting from your own actions.”
Paul then explained that he’s kissed a lot of men: “This is why when I’m under attack for this whole thing, I’m sitting here thinking if I should tweet these pictures of me kissing dudes. This whole thing hurts.”
