Recently controversial YouTuber, Jake Paul, held a boxing event on April 17th against retired mixed martial artist, Ben Askren. He won by knockout with many onlookers praising Paul’s performance against a former fighter and Olympian. Others criticized it due to Askren being deemed to be out of shape and the fight seemed to be rigged. As of 2021, Paul has held four boxing events winning all of them by knockout gravitating thousands of attendees and millions of online viewers.
With his newfound venture, Paul has been promoting himself as a professional boxer. The statement caused a positive response from fans who believe Paul has proven himself as a true fighter with his record standing at 4-0 with all knockouts. It also caused negative criticism from professional boxers such as Canelo Alveraz who doesn’t believe Paul is a professional boxer yet. Alvarez has stated that though he isn’t a professional boxer to him Paul brings in a new audience which means more viewership. I completely agree, Paul is controversial and despicable to me, but his marketing techniques are phenomenal and that is the reason he frequently trends on social media.
Paul has fought fellow YouTubers Deji and AnEsonGib along with basketball player Nate Robinson and recently former UFC fighter Ben Askren. In rebuttal to his record, Paul has decided to call out professional boxers and mixed martial artists. Such as Floyd Mayweather, Canelo Alveraz, Conor Mcgregor, and Nate Diaz. Paul even went as far as to call out singer Chris Brown, after his win against Deji. He hasn’t received any responses from any of the professional fighters though his brother, Logan Paul, will be fighting retired boxer Floyd Mayweather on June 6.
Other than his newfound boxing career, Jake Paul has been at the center of consistent controversy since he was fired from the Disney Channel series “Bizaardvark.” This past year, Paul has been in controversies surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, riots, and alleged sexual assault.
Late May in 2020, riots and protests transpired after the George Floyd murder on May 25 at the hands of former cop Derek Chauvin. Paul, along with a couple of friends, was caught witnessing and documenting the riots after dinner. To record people looting, Paul entered a mall and took footage of the violence, but later apologized for doing so. While apologizing he denounced accusations that he took part in the riots that had taken place. In response to Paul being present for the looting he was charged with criminal trespass and unlawful assembly and his mansion in Calabasas, California was raided by the FBI. Due to the raid of his home the charges against Paul were dropped.
In 2020, the worldwide pandemic began that became known as the Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. When the outbreak happened in the United States a shutdown was enforced along with requiring citizens to wear masks. Such measures were taken and are still being taken to protect society from the virus continuing to spread. Jake Paul decided to go against state rules in California and hold a party with over a dozen individuals. Videos began to spread of the party showing no attendees were social distancing or wearing masks which caused mayor Alicia Weintraub to make a statement regarding the issue. When asked about the party during an interview Paul made it known he doesn’t regret it and that COVID-19 is a hoax. It promoted backlash from the public including fellow YouTubers.
This year in April, a Tik Toker named Justine Paradise accused Jake Paul of forcing her to perform oral sex on him. Also, actress and model, Railey Lollie, claimed Paul made inappropriate comments to her and groped her. Paul has since responded to the allegations denying them.
Jake Paul has been a controversial figure for years and with his newfound career in boxing, it seems Paul is benefiting from controversy more. The issue to me is that Paul has been in an abundance of scandals including members of his former clique, Team 10, speaking out against him. Platforms like YouTube fail to ever hold him accountable and instead of pulling his videos, they make them age-restricted. With other YouTubers like Lovelyti content being demonetized in a minute. I notice the biased nature in the industry and many consider it “white privilege.”