Jake Paul and KSI Feud

Overview

Jake Paul and KSI Feud, also known as the KSI and Logan Paul Boxing Match, refers to an ongoing public conflict between English YouTuber gamer KSI and American YouTubers Logan and Jake Paul. Following a boxing match, KSI challenged the Paul brothers to a fight and the two parties have since exchanged words online.

Background

On February 3rd, 2018, YouTuber KSI won a boxing match against English YouTuber Joe Weller. After the fight, KSI said to the crowd, "If any YouTuber wants it, you can come get it. Jake Paul, Logan Paul, any of the Pauls. I don’t care."

The following day, KSI uploaded the fight to YouTube.^[1] The video (shown below) received more than six million views in less than one week.

Development

The day of the fight, Jake Paul tweeted, ^[2] "Who is PSI and why are people tweeting me about him?" The post (shown below, left) received more than 2,400 retweets and 28,000 likes in less than one week.

Following Paul's tweet, KSI tweeted^[3] a photograph of Jake Paul's Twitter profile, zooming in on the marker that says "Follows you." He captioned the tweet "🤔🤔🤔 Boy I would drop you quicker than Disney @jakepaul." The post (shown below, right) received more than 74,000 retweets and 308,000 likes in eight days.

That day, Jake Paul published a video^[4] entitled "KSI WANTS TO FIGHT ME." During the video (shown below, left), Paul mocks KSI, shows some of his training and calling his father. He volunteers his father, Greg Paul, to fight KSI in a mixed martial arts match.

The following day, KSI's brother, YouTuber^[5] ComedyShortsGamer posted a video entitedl "JAKE PAUL IS A P*SSY." The video (shown below) received more than 1.9 million views in one week.

The following day, Paul agreed that there would be two fights, one fight between Logan Paul and KSI and the other between Jake Paul and KSI's brother. In the video,^[6] Paul confirms that he and his brother would be participating in the fight along with several terms:

1. Puts up $250,000 of their own money
2. It's an MMA fight
3. Fight is held in Los Angeles
4. Loser has to say the winner is their daddy on live broadcast
5. The loser has to wear the other persons merch in their videos for one month

The video (shown below) received more than 4.8 million views in less than one week.

On February 7th, KSI responded to the terms but did not agree to the them. During the video,^[7] he said, "Fuck your terms. I’m the one with the belt. I’m the A-side. I’m the one who proves I can fight on a global stage." The video (shown below, left) received more than 9.9 million views.

Two days later, Jake Paul uploaded^[8] a video entitled "KSI CALLED ME." The video (shown below, right) received more than 4.5 million views.

Greg Paul Assault

On July 18th, 2018, a contentious press conference regarding the fight ended with Logan Paul leaving the stage as KSI insulted Paul's girlfriend and parents. The scene ended with the Paul entourage, including father Greg Paul, escaping London's York Hall amidst a crowd of KSI supporters chasing them. As they fled, a man approached Greg from behind and punched him in the side of the head (video below).

That day, Twitter user @AbdiHaaji4 shared a video with the "guy who punched Greg Paul in the head." The post (shown below) received more than 1,400 views in five days.

The guy who punched Greg Paul in the head KSIOlajidebt ComedyGamer pic.twitter.com/TRSENdGWhK

— Abdi Haaji (@AbdiHaaji4) July 18, 2018

The following day, YouTuber Izadi shared a video of the press conference, which included footage fans attacking Jake and Logan Paul's Rolls-Royce. In the video he says that Deji, KSI's younger brother, allegedly encouraged fans to attack Team 10. The video (shown below, left) received more than 308,000 views in less than one week.

On July 22nd, Deji uploaded a video in which he claims that he is being sued by Greg Paul in connection with the attack. The video (shown below, right) received more than 1.4 million views in 24 hours.

Commentary Controversy

On July 28th, Logan Paul uploaded an explanation as to why he left the stage at the press conference the week prior. In the video, he accuses True Geordie, who was moderating the press conference, of bias and siding with KSI. The video (shown below) received more than 7 million views in one week.

On July 29th, 2018, YouTuber and podcast True Geordie responded to Logan Paul's assertion and accused the YouTuber of blocking him from commentating the KSI fight. He tweeted,^[13] "So Logan has had a pop at me in his latest video and his team have apparently said they don’t want me commentating the fight. I’m going to give my side in a video today." The tweet (shown below) received more than 800 retweets and 18,000 likes in less than one week.

That day, he uploaded a video response to Paul. The video (shown below, right) received more than 3.6 million views in less than one week.

Fans of True Geordie came out to support the YouTuber using the hashtag #GiveBrianHisMicBack. On July 28th, Change.org ^[14] user Antonio Giusti launched a petition to "Keep True Geordie as Commentator for the KSI vs Logan Fight." Within four days, the petition reached its goal with more than 3,400 signatures.

On August 1st, Twitter^[15] published a Moments page about the controversy.

That day, True Geordie posted a video thanking fans and supporters. He also talked about a conversation he and Logan Paul had on the phone. He said that Paul had apologized for his video and that he would let him commentate on the fight. Within 24 hours, the video (shown below) received more than 2.4 million views.

Fight Results

On July 25th, the two fights (Logan Paul vs. KSI and Jake Paul vs. Deji) took place. In the opening fight, Jake vs. Deji, Jake Paul beat his opponent as Deji forfeited the fight in the sixth round (image below, left). After the fight, Pail said, "Deji fought an amazing fight. I respect him. I hope he learned a lesson about the things that he said, 'cause he said some shit about my family that wasn't cool … but much respect to Deji, no hard feelings."

The main event, Logan vs. KSI, resulted in a majority draw, leading to immediate discussions of a rematch (image below, right).

Online, YouTube registered more than 780,000 viewers, who paid $10 to watch the fight on the website. Within 24 hours, the paid stream had more than 4.9 million views.^[16] However, pirated streams of the match, particularly on Twitch, registered more than one million people watching.

The following day, Jake Paul released a reaction video to the KSI-Logan Paul fight. Within 24 hours, the video (shown below) received more than 4.9 million views.

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the feud, including The Daily Dot,^[9] LADBible,^[10] BBC^[11] and more.

Search Interest

External References