About

Jake Paul is an American actor who rose to fame through Vine and YouTube before appearing on the Disney Channel show Bizaardvark. He is known for posting clickbait style prank videos on YouTube and gained further notoriety for the drama surrounding a song he recorded in which he bragged about his various successes.

History

Vine and YouTube

Paul first grew to prominence on Vine. There, he acquired over 5 million followers before the app went defunct (compilation shown below).^[1]

On March 27th, 2014, Paul uploaded a compilation of his Vines to YouTube,^[2] marking his first video on the site. There, several of his videos racked up millions of views with clickbait titles such as "SHE'S NAKED?!" and "SEXY KILLER CLOWN ATTACKS US (not a joke)."

Bizaardvark

On March 9th, 2016, it was announced that Paul was cast in the Disney Channel original series Bizaardvark as the character Dirk.^[3] Dirk is the star of a show within the show called Dare Me Bro, where he performs crazy dares, not unlike his Vine and YouTube personalities.

On July 22nd, Disney Channel and Jake Paul mutually decided to part ways,^[8] with Paul leaving his Disney Channel series Bizaardvark mid-way through the second season. In a statement,^[12] a Disney spokesman said:

"We’ve mutually agreed that Jake Paul will leave his role on the Disney Channel series ‘Bizaardvark.’ On behalf of the production company, the cast and crew, we thank Jake for his good work on the TV series for the past 18 months and extend our best wishes to him."

That day, Paul also released a statement via Twitter^[9]. He posted the statement in a screencap from the Notes app on iOS along with the caption "Love you all! Thanks for the support❤️ Can't wait to continue to grow and conquer 🙌🏼 Jake Paulers always rise💪🏼" The post (shown below) received more than 14,000 retweets and 86,000 likes.

White House Breach

On January 5th, 2017, Paul hid in the bathroom of The White House and stayed there for several hours, leaving in the early morning unnoticed. He posted a video about the stunt (shown below, left). This caused the Secret Service to visit his house after that, which he also posted a video about (shown below, right), though they deemed him a non-threat.

It's Everyday Bro

On May 30th, 2017, Paul uploaded a music video for a song called "It's Everyday Bro" to YouTube, where it gained over 26 million views (shown below). In the video, he brags about his followers and stated that he would soon pass Pewdiepie. Furthermore he made reference to his ex-girlfriend Alissa Violet, another YouTube star, who had undergone a very public breakup a few months prior amid rumors of mutual cheating and that Violet had begun to date Jake's brother, Logan Paul.^[4]

The video soon generated drama between all the involved parties. Following the release of the video, Logan responded by essentially laughing it off in a video (shown below, top left). Then Jake uploaded a diss track directed to his brother (shown below, top right). This continued to escalate as fans of both started to feud with each other, leading Jake to release an apology video (shown below, bottom left). Logan then responded with another, jokey diss track, but couched within it a vlog in which he said he would give Jake a second chance (shown below, bottom right). Two threads about the entire drama were posted to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[5][6]

Meanwhile, Pewdiepie responded to Jake Paul's diss in "It's Everyday Bro" by mocking the video point by point in a video of his own that gathered over 6 million views (shown below).

England Is My City

During "It's Everyday Bro," English guest rapper Nick Crompton delivers a verse in which he says "England is my city." The lyric was mocked online, as England is a country, not a city. On June 21st, 2017, YouTuber Kyle Knight uploaded a video compilation of various popular YouTubers reacting to the lyric, gaining over 287,000 views.

The moment appeared in several remix and YouTube Poop videos following the release of the "It's everyday bro" video. On June 4th, Aunix uploaded a YouTube Poop video of the lyric, gaining over 1.4 million views (shown below, left). On June 7th, Redditor TheAwesomeGem posted a question about the surge of "England is my city" jokes appearing in comments and videos to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[7] On June 20th, Alpacafries uploaded a Replacement Remix where "England is my city" replaced "every time they say something stupid," gaining over 572,000 views (shown below, right).

The moment has also inspired image macros and other jokes using various templates (examples shown below).

Terrorizing Neighborhood News Report

Oh July 17th, KTLA 5^[10] news reported that Paul has been performing stunts in his west-Hollywood neighborhood, causing property damaging and drawing a crowd. His neighbors began investigating a class-action lawsuit against Paul and the property owner.

“We used to be a nice, quiet street, and now we’re just this war zone,” said Paul’s neighbor Maytal Dahan. “We’re families here and we’re more than happy to have them live here if they’re respectful of their neighbors, but they’re not.”

The following day, Paul tweeted^[11] the video with the caption "I'm dead 😂 @ neighbors you won't do it." The post (shown below) received more than 17,000 retweets and 82,000 likes.

#JakePaulIsOverParty

On August 1st, 2017, Jake Paul posted a video entitled "SELF DRIVING TESLA IN DRIVE THRU PRANK (FREAKOUTS)." In the video (shown below), Paul meets a fan with an accent. When the fan tells Paul that he is from Kazakhstan, Paul responds, "It sounds like you’re just gonna blow someone up […] Send the nuke." The video has been viewed more than 5.5 million times in three days.

Shortly after the video hit the web, fans on Twitter began deriding Paul, calling the video racist. They started expressing their opinion on Twitter under the hashtag #JakePaulIsOverParty. Twitter user @itsRyanButler tweeted the video and wrote, "This is racism to the most extent, and the worst part is that his fans will still support him. #jakepaulisoverparty" The tweet (shown below) received more than 2,800 retweets and 6,400 likes in less than three days.

Car Horn Lawsuit

On October 10th, 2017, TMZ^[13] reported that a California man featured in one Jake Paul's prank videos, in which the YouTuber honked an extra loud car horn to scare pedestrians, was suing Paul for hearing damage and emotional distress.

In the video (shown below), Paul and his crew rig an extra large car horn to an SUV. They then proceed to drive around Los Angeles and blare the horn at unsuspecting pedestrians. The plaintiff is said to be in the video leaving a store in Los Angeles--however, the suit has not confirmed which person he is. He now claims that the horn caused hearing loss and is suing Paul and Paul's company for damages.^[14]

Posted on July 7th, 2017, the video has been viewed more than 7.3 million times in four months.

Bullying Accusations

On November 10th, 2017, YouTubers Martinez Twins posted a video in which they claimed to have left Jake Paul's Team 10 house due to constant bullying at the hands of Paul and their other roommates (shown below). Within five days, the video gathered upwards of 3.7 million views and 65,900 comments.

The following day, the @Team10Official^[15] Twitter feed posted a statement in response to the video, accusing the Martinez brothers of creating the video for "clickbait and views" (shown below). In the first 72 hours, the tweet gained over 19,400 likes and 2,700 retweets.

On November 13th, the Martinez Twins uploaded a followup video titled "The Truth," in which they claimed Paul constantly "pranked" them, called them racial slurs and withheld money they planned to send back to their mother in Spain (shown below).

YouTube Red Show

On March 29th, 2018, The Hollywood Reporter^[16] reported that YouTube Red was partnering with Paul to develop a late-night talk show-style series. The show will be produced by Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens' Propagate Content. The show will be available to watch at any time rather than be wed to a regular TV schedule. YouTube stated that only a pilot had been ordered and not a full season.^[17]

Jake Paul and KSI Feud

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.

On July 25th, 2018, Logan Paul boxed. KSI and Jake Paul boxed KSI's brohter Deji. In the opening fight, Jake vs. Deji, Jake Paul beat his opponent as Deji forfeited the fight in the sixth round. 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.

The Mind of Jake Paul

On September 21st, 2018, Shane Dawson released the trailer for his eight-part documentary series The Mind of Jake Paul. The trailer mostly shows the stress and confusion he experienced while make the film. Within three days, the trailer received more than 5.3 million views (shown below).

The series debuted on September 25th, 2018.

Abuse Allegations

On October 16th, 2018, Shane Dawson released part seven of his documentary The Mind of Jake Paul, entitled "The Ex Girlfriend of Jake Paul." In the installment, Dawson spoke with Paul's estranged love interest Alissa Violet, who alleges that their relationship was fake. She said, "We never officially dated. Ever. … Jalissa was fake."

She went on to allege that during their time together, Paul had been "mentally and emotionally abusive" towards her.^[18] She said:

"I wasn’t like getting abused every night when he came home from work. It was never physical abuse. If we filmed a video, and he had to push me into a bush, normally, you’d nudge someone or pretend to push someone. He would actually shove me. … He would just do it way too hard."

[…]

"I want to clear the air. He’s not a physical abuser. But mentally and emotionally … every day, 2,000 times a day. I can’t even remember a conversation where it was me walking away feeling good about myself."

Additionally, she claimed that, during a fight, Paul broke her cell phone and "dragged me down the steps."

Within 48 hours of release, the video received more than 10 million views.

Jake Paul Uncut

On November 25th, 2018, after Shane Dawson's The Mind of Jake Paul, Jake Paul uploaded the first installment of a docu-series entitled Jake Paul Uncut. The first episode discusses his relationship and breakups with Erika Costell (shown below, left). The video gained over 6.5 million views and 182,000 likes in five months. On December 2nd, the second episode was released outlining his day-to-day dramas (shown below, right). The video accumulated over three million views and 77,000 likes in five months.

On February 11th, 2019, Jake Paul uploaded a video explaining that he would discontinue the series as he is stressed about a series of lawsuits, the state of team 10 and his breakup (shown below). The video gained over 1.5 million views and 62,000 likes in two months.

On April 18th, Paul^[18] tweeted, "i’m bringing back Jake Paul Uncut don’t even worryyyyy about it fam" (shown below). The tweet gained over 5,200 likes and 200 retweets in a day.

FBI Raid

On August 5th, 2020, a group of FBI agents arrived at Paul's Calabasas mansion with a search warrant. According to TMZ^[19], the FBI agents later left the scene with multiple firearms (shown below).

On August 13th, Entertainment Tonight reposted a clip from a since-deleted YouTube video of Jake Paul explaining that the FBI Raid was regarding the Arizona looting incident (shown below). The video gained over 93,000 views in a week.

On August 18th, Twitter user @pvppethistory^[20] shared a screenshot of a casting call for Jake Paul's new music video and captioned it, "jake paul casting for a music video during a pandemic about his 'recent run in with the law' is so jake paul" (shown below). Various media outlets like Insider^[21] and Dexerto^[22] reported on news of an upcoming FBI-raid themed Jake Paul music video.

Search Interest

External References