This weekend, the United States was rocked by protests following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Following some of the protests in cities across the nation there has been looting in high end stores, small business and even malls. YouTube star Jake Paul was spotted at a looting site in Arizona over the weekend, but now he has spoken out to deny he was looting.
Footage Of Jake Paul Allegedly Looting In Mall
There is alleged footage of the 23-year-old YouTube star out and about in a mall that is being destroyed and looted. The video evidence emerged on social media over the weekend and focuses on people milling outside a P.F. Changs and then entering a mall to loot in Scottsdale, Arizona. The footage, which seems to come from Jake Paul's videographer, can be seen in full below.
The looting video showed up after Jake Paul himself posted videos to his own Instagram Stories featuring himself wearing a face mask and attending peaceful protests in Scottsdale Arizona. During those videos, he claims he was tear-gassed by police. Later, the above footage came out of himself and some acquaintances, featuring a moment where people hand over a bottle of vodka that appears to be looted.
Jake Paul Denies The Looting Incident Was Looting
Following the release of the video above, Jake Paul took to Twitter to address what happened and in what capacity he says he was on the scene. After being a part of the protests following the death of George Floyd, he mentions he and his friends stayed on the scene to document what was occurring on the streets over the weekend.
To be absolutely clear, neither I nor anyone in our group was engage in any shooting or vandalism. For context, we spent the day doing our part to peacefully protest one of the most horrific injustices our country has ever seen, which led to us being tear gassed and forced to keep moving on foot. We filmed everything we saw in an effort to share our experience and bring more attention to the anger felt in every neighborhood we traveled through; we were strictly documenting, not engaging.
Jake Paul went on to explain he does not “condone violence, looting, or breaking the law,” but that he felt people needed to see what was going on in the world to “raise awareness” so people can “collectively figure out how to move forward in a healthy way.
This isn’t the first time one of the Paul brothers have been called out for decisions related to filming content for social channels. Jake Paul’s brother Logan Paul, also a YouTube star and video vlogger, came under fire after a visit to Japan when he took footage of a man who had committed suicide in the woods and posted it on YouTube. Logan Paul was also once involved in a controversy over a baby tiger, as well.
Jake Paul himself has dealt with controversy previously, getting filmed saying the n-word while rapping and also being sued by his landlords in West Hollywood.
