Jake Paul has dismissed new claims he was fired by Disney back in 2017 during his stint on sitcom Bizaardvark, addressing the three-and-a-half-year-old controversy in a recent interview.
Jake Paul, while juggling his YouTube and Vine antics back in 2017, was fast-becoming one of Disney’s biggest stars. The then 20-year-old played Dirk Mann on the sitcom Bizaardvark for two seasons.
However, his stay on the set was cut abruptly short in June 2017. He parted ways with the project, and there was a mixed reaction.
Back then, Jake Paul said that he and Disney “came to the agreement” to mutually part ways. However, others have claimed the star was fired over a series of controversies, including a news segment that saw neighbours complain about the then-Disney star.
Paul has rubbished those claims though. He doubled down on his initial statement three years ago, saying that he played along with the community sentiment as a joke.
“It’s funny because, for the last three years I’ve sort of ran with everyone saying, “Oh, he got fired,” just because I think it’s funnier to say, “I got fired by Disney,” but in reality it was a mutual decision to split from each other,” he told The Daily Beast.
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The decision was purely a business one, according to Paul. He wanted more money, and Disney wasn’t offering it.
“They weren’t paying me enough. I was making millions more — per week — than I was on that show, and it was a mutual decision for us to split up,” he added.
“Everyone I worked with on that show was fantastic, but from a business standpoint it didn’t make sense. I was aging up and wanted more money.”
Jake Paul has since gone on to grow his career on YouTube, even expanding into boxing the likes of AnEsonGib on a Mike Tyson card, something the younger Paul brother said was the highlight of his life.
However, the real reasoning behind his parting with Disney will always be questioned.