Logan Paul explains why he pulled out of Russian slap competition

Controversial YouTuber Logan Paul seemed set to participate in Generation Iron’s ‘Battle on the Volga,’ a slapping competition featuring some of Russia’s top slap champions – but he suddenly pulled out of the runnings mere days before the event was set to take place.

Paul published an open letter to Generation Iron in a Tweet on May 21, where he explained that he would not be attending the Battle on the Volga due to “an unforeseen and unfortunate event” that took place during a recent practice session.

While Paul claimed that he didn’t want to take part in a competition that could “result in serious injury to virtually anyone competing,” he didn’t elaborate on the exact incident – that is, until Paul uploaded a video of him slapping the daylights out of an opponent the very next day.

It was this incident that Paul claimed had dissuaded him from making the trek to Russia, as stated during YouTuber Travis Mills’ ‘ADHD’ podcast on May 23.

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Paul claimed that his slap resulted in the slappee, professional slapper ‘slapforcash,’ losing memory of his name and all recollection of being slapped, altogether – a fact that Paul found to be “very scary.”

“I have never seen a human crumple like that,” Paul said of the matter. “It made me feel uncomfortable. I realized I don’t like hitting defenseless humans… what if that happens to me? What if I become the vegetable?”

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Paul went on to compare the incident to his debilitating scandal from early 2018, where he filmed the body of a suicide victim in Japan’s Aokigahara ‘Suicide Forest’ for a controversial vlog.

[Timestamp: 4:10 for mobile viewers]

“This is that moment where, in Tokyo, you didn’t have someone telling you this is not a good idea,” Paul quoted his videographer. “…I’m at the fork in the fuckin’ road, dude. I’ve been at this place before, and I went the wrong way, and now, I’m gonna go the right fuckin’ way.”

Paul’s participation in the slap battle was thought to have been for another upcoming “mockumentary,” following his divisive Flat Earth video in late March.

While Paul has since pulled out of the competition, he claims to have a “full piece of content” in store for viewers in the near future.