Logan Paul has accused the BBC of ‘platforming predators for the past 50 years’ after a fake interview between the YouTuber-turned-wrestler and the corporation went south.
A BBC reporter stormed out of the scheduled interview after a lookalike arrived in place of Paul for inclusion in a recent documentary, with the star facing accusations of misleading followers over crypto investments by promoting coins without disclosing his own financial interests.
According to the BBC, Paul promoted crypto investments to his followers without disclosing his own financial interests in them, which would have caused prices in the investments to soar. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The broadcaster also claimed that after the part-time boxer posted on social media about crypto coin in 2021, an anonymous crypto wallet – which stores keys for cryptocurrency transactions and allow its owners to manage their funds – connected to his public wallet traded and went on to make a profit of $120,000 (£95,000).
A BBC documentary, titled Logan Paul: Bad Influence, saw reporter Matt Shea seek to interview the social media personality over the allegations.
But when he arrived at the venue, he was met by a lookalike, eventually clocking on, and Paul has now taken aim at the organisation in a video shared to his 23.6million subscribers on YouTube.
Logan Paul (left) has accused the BBC of ‘platforming predators for the past 50 years’
Paul used a lookalike (right) to trick reporter Matt Shea into what he thought was an interview
A number of other people stormed the interview late on to slam the BBC in Shea’s direction
Paul could be seen branding Shea a ‘dumb a**’ early on in the video as he watched on backstage.
Paul also highlighted how Shea was once told he could interview Andrew Tate if he delivered a box of chocolates, to which the reporter said he would. Paul added that his dignity was ‘out the window’ following the agreement.
An original piece on Tate by Shea was ‘ripped apart for unverified and one-sided allegations that is right on-brand for an organisation as credible as the BBC and Vice,’ according to Paul.
He went onto suggest that the BBC have ‘been platforming predators for the past 50 years,’ saying he had ‘a list’ which included Jimmy Saville, Chris Denning, Chris Langham, Jonathan King and Rolf Harris.
Paul added that Shea ‘reports for organisations with proven, known history of sexual misconduct’.
He added: ‘I wonder what Matt knows. I’m not saying anything.’
Later in the video, he explained how the BBC had become interested in his work because they couldn’t ‘stop hiring category A sexual predators’ and wanted to make a ‘regurgitated hit piece on a wrestler’ to ‘divert attention’.
Paul added that he maintains he ‘did not scam anyone’ and ‘made zero dollars off the crypto zoo allegations’.
Paul said Shea ‘reports for organisations with proven, known history of sexual misconduct’
He was sat backstage in a video on his YouTube channel showing how he carried out the prank
Shea tired to speak to Paul over allegations of misleading followers over crypto investments
He went onto explain that the lookalike arrived a day early to prepare for questions, and Paul could be seen suggesting: ‘Do you only work for sexual predators?’ and: ‘Did Huw Edwards ever touch your pee pee?’
As Paul prepared backstage, he said that Shea had been sitting in his seat for five minutes and that he had ‘never seen anyone so nervous in my life’.
When the fake Logan Paul, real name Rodney Petersen, had sat down, the first question put forward by Shea surrounded Paul’s fame and responsibility, to which Petersen responded: ‘I’m 205lbs and I feel like the s***, this is an amazing life.’
The interview continued, with Shea looking nervous as the fake Logan pointed out his notes. Shea then appeared to get wind that he was not speaking to the real Logan, asking: ‘Why do you look to different to me?’
He then appeared to speak to a producer, asking: ‘Jamie, is it just me, or does he look different?’ with the response: ‘Completely different.’
With the real Logan laughing backstage, Shea, looking glum, asked: ‘Is Logan coming?’
‘Jamie’ then said: ‘You’re f***ing joking, right? Is this a joke?’
The fake Paul continued to claim he was a ‘serious person’ before Shea at last realised he was making no progress and sad: ‘Let’s just get out of here, I’m not doing this.’
The interview lasted a few minutes until Shea caught wind of what was happening and asked for Logan to step in
Actor Rodney Petersen – the lookalike sent to speak to the BBC – was pictured alongside Paul
Before he could move, though, Paul opened a door and said ‘Go, go, go’ and told his lookalike through the earpiece that he was ‘sending them in’.
Groups of people then stormed the set, shouting ‘BBC is vile, they hire pedophiles.’
Carrying cards on sticks, they also said: ‘Neiner, neiner, neiner, stop touching child wiener.’
Petersen then grabbed a microphone himself and asked Shea why his personal email account is allegedly ‘registered to PornHub’, to which Shea responded by getting out of his seat and leaving with a smirk on his face.
‘That’s what upset him the most,’ Paul said.
As Shea and his crew left, the group headed to the roof of the building to continue chanting, and Paul stuck a picture of Shea and Edwards together – seemingly fake – to the top of the reporter’s car.
Shea then ripped it off and kicked it on the floor, with Paul saying that they ‘couldn’t leave fast enough’.
The video ended with a round of applause for the lookalike and Paul and Petersen shaking hands. Paul added that he donated $50,000 (£39,700) to ‘a children’s organsiation that focuses on children suffering and who are being abused, something that we have not seen the BBC do yet even though they have been platforming the worst people on the planet for the past 50 years’.
Paul put a poster of Shea pictured alongside Huw Edwards – seemingly a fake image – on his car
The BBC claims that Paul’s team ‘insisted’ they fly to the Caribbean island through Storm Ernesto before the incidents took place.
‘So rather than defend himself against the allegations we’ve been investigating, Logan decided to troll us,’ Shea said via voiceover in his own documentary.
‘Minutes after leaving the gym, we receive a letter from lawyers on behalf of Logan Paul, warning us against publishing our allegations.
‘But these allegations against him aren’t going away. In fact, they’ve been building since 2021.’
The BBC also claim that in 2021, the YouTuber shared a social media post about a particular crypto coin, and that ‘an anonymous crypto wallet with close connections to his public wallet had traded in the coin’. It’s claimed that anonymous wallet made $121,000 (£92,000) in profit.
Paul is currently facing a multi-million-dollar lawsuit over failed crypto project CryptoZoo amid accusations of fraud.
The influencer launched the project in 2021 only to be met with controversy a year later when YouTube channel Coffeezilla produced a three-part docuseries accusing Paul and his company of scamming users.
The game was supposed to allow users to buy base egg NFTs that would watch and grow into animal NFTs, which could then be bread with other NFTs.
The group took to the roof to protest as Shea and his crew drove away from the venue
In order to make $ZOO tokens, the game’s currency, users would need to hatch eggs.
Unfortunately the game did not work as intended, and later became the subject of the class-action lawsuit.
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BBC reporter storms out of 'interview' with Logan Paul after he sent a LOOKALIKE to replace him
Paul, who has denied defrauding anyone, has pointed the finger at the game’s makers.
But despite his insistence that he’s not at fault, he has offered a $2.3million (£1.8m) buyback program aimed at settling the issue.
‘I’m going to take care of the people who made me look like this was a scam perpetrated by me,’ Paul said. ‘I didn’t make any f***ing money, bro. I lost half a million dollars on this.’
Paul’s team offered no comment when approached by DailyMail.com. The BBC were also approached for comment.
A BBC Spokesperson said: ‘Logan Paul invited Matt Shea to interview him but then didn’t show up to answer questions about the allegations against him. We recommend people watch the documentary to see what happened and Matt’s investigation for themselves.’