Time and time again, YouTube proves itself as a powerful launchpad for careers of all kinds. Musicians like Justin Bieber and comedians like Bo Burnham owe their careers in large part due to their early YouTube videos, which served as a place to start building their craft. Interestingly, Logan Paul of the infamous Paul brothers has used YouTube to launch a variety of careers; he's breaking into everything from boxing, to collecting Pokemon trading cards. Even if he wasn't trying to reach beyond his traditional YouTube content, Paul's high-profile antics and controversy have made him famous enough to connect with non-YouTube entertainers like Jimmy Kimmel.
As a matter of fact, Logan Paul went on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2017, just as Logan and his brother Jake Paul were in the midst of their meteoric rise to YouTube fame. Logan and Kimmel seemed to get along well, chatting about a broad range of Logan's antics, including his attempts to wrestle a wild alligator for a YouTube video. Although Logan Paul hasn't gone back on Jimmy Kimmel Live! since then, a joke Kimmel made at his expense has now spiraled out into a feud between two very different kinds of celebrities.
How the Logan Paul-Jimmy Kimmel Feud Started
Jimmey Kimmel's joke involving Logan Paul ties into Paul's burgeoning boxing career. Kimmel, who is a frequent critic of former US president Donald Trump, made a joke about Trump's recent appearance as a commentator at a boxing match; saying that between Trump and Paul, boxing was "the top source of income for the very worst people in the whole world." Kimmel's negative perspective on Logan Paul probably stems from Paul's habit of running into controversy. For instance, mere months after going on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Paul uploaded the infamous Aokigahara Forest video in which Paul filmed his discovery of a suicide victim's body.
Kimmel is far from the only person to criticize Logan Paul's history of divisive behavior, but Paul took Kimmel's joke at his expense very personally. Shortly after Kimmel's joke, Logan Paul brought it up on his podcast, "Impaulsive." He expressed his frustration, saying that he thought he'd established a friendly relationship with Kimmel during his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
This frustration came out as a part of a broader conversation with Minecraft YouTuber and Twitch streamer TommyInnit that touched on how the Paul brothers are often the butt of jokes. Beyond opening up about his anger at Kimmel, Paul criticized Kimmel's writers, saying that using his name for a gag was uncreative and "lame."
Kimmel's Response and the Feud's Future
Jimmy Kimmel did pick up on Paul's distress over the joke. Shortly after Paul responded to the joke, Kimmel brought the matter up on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The comedian seemed somewhat surprised that Paul felt he had such camaraderie with him, but Kimmel also seemed inclined to laugh it off. He made some more jokes related to Paul, referencing a story Logan Paul had told Kimmel on the show about the missing part of his testicle, right after saying he hoped things could be patched up between the two of them. Overall, Kimmel's response was pretty brief, and he seemed mostly unperturbed by Logan Paul's anger.
One wonders what, if anything, will come of this fued now. Logan Paul mentioned during his conversation on Impaulsive that he's a very different person from who he was in 2017. One wonders if this feud could lead to Logan Paul appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! again, giving him and Kimmel a chance to hash out their differences and catch up. It wouldn't be surprising if Paul jumped on the opportunity to talk about how much his career has changed, highlighting the details of the Paul brothers' boxing careers and clearing the air around the joke that started this whole affair.