Just a few days ago, footage which was said to show YouTube star Jake Paul taking part in looting after a protest about the death of George Floyd went viral online. While Paul responded to the video, which was taken as people entered a mall and looted in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Twitter by saying that he and his group "were strictly documenting, not engaging," it now appears that law enforcement officials in the city disagree, as Paul has been charged with the crime.
The Scottsdale Police Department made the news official by taking the information to their own Twitter page, and here's what they had to say:
We've received 100s of tips in response to the events at @ScottsdaleFS. In our continued investigation it was confirmed that Jake Paul was in attendance & remained inside after an unlawful assembly was declared & has been charged with Criminal Trespass & Unlawful Assembly.
Well, that's not good for Jake Paul at all, is it? While the police department's feed did not say whether or not all of those hundreds of tips involved Paul, it would seem pretty clear that enough of that information was with regards to him that the police felt they had enough cause to charge him.
About a day ago, the Scottsdale Police Department noted that it had already made 20 arrests for the weekend looting at Scottsdale Fashion Square, as well as recovered $46,000 in stolen property because of tips from the public. We don't know right now what the next steps will be for Jake Paul, and whether or not he'll also be arrested, but it appears that he's not too concerned with what will come from this. Paul went back to social media after learning of the charges, and posted this response:
While Paul is correct that the focus shouldn't be on him right now, he did make himself a part of the story by posting videos of himself at peaceful protests in Scottsdale and then talking about being tear-gassed by police. This is what led to the looting video showing up online, and would seem to prove that just because you know what to post and not post on your social media, it doesn't mean that others aren't ready to expose all of your secret activities online. So, we all need to be very careful about what we do and where we do it, and this is especially true if we decide to break the law.
Jake and his brother Logan Paul (also a well known YouTube creator) have been no strangers to controversy as of late. The latter was involved in a dispute because of a video involving an illegally owned baby tiger, and also caused quite a stir when he took a trip to Japan and posted video of a man who had committed suicide in the woods. Meanwhile, Jake Paul landed in hot water a couple of years ago after getting caught using a racial slur while performing a freestyle rap.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV, movies and pop culture. If you need more to fill your viewing schedule in the coming weeks, be sure to see what's new to Hulu in June, look into the new options on Netflix and check out our guide to summer TV.
