Popular YouTuber Logan Paul is no stranger to controversy, following his infamous vlog in Japan’s Aokigahara ‘Suicide Forest’ in 2017 – but this time, he’s in hot water for alleged copyright infringement.
Musical group ‘Flobots’ has issued a lawsuit against Paul for parodying their 2007 song ‘Handlebars,’ calling the lyrics of Paul’s rendition “nearly identical for four successive bars.”
That’s not all; the group likewise argues that Paul directly copied the song’s trumpet riff and melody, and hope to gain an injunction against the YouTuber – as well as the profits he made from the song, which could be worth a pretty penny, if Forbes’ 2017 estimates of his earnings prove correct.
In fact, the Flobots were so heated over Paul’s parody that they dropped a diss track on the YouTuber in December of 2017, where they called his cover a “stupid white rap,” and even appeared to find his lyrics misogynistic.
When questioned by TMZ about the diss track, Paul admitted that he didn’t know who they were, and claimed that his song was “never meant to be misogynistic.”
Paul has since deleted his parody video, ‘No HandleBars,’ in light of the Flobots’ lawsuit (although copies of the video still exist across the internet).
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This wouldn’t be the first time Paul has been faced with a lawsuit, either; in fact, the YouTuber is reportedly being sued by Flat Earther Mike ‘Mad Mike’ Hughes, who took issue with his “mockumentary” of the Flat Earth International Conference in November 2018.
“…He used my image and I never signed a release,” Hughes said of Paul’s documentary. “I was never told what this thing was for. In fact, when he interviewed me, I didn’t know who the guy was. …After this movie comes out, you find out he staged half of it.”
However, little brother Jake Paul is better known for getting into legal trouble, having been sued by multiple homeowners for trashing rental properties during weekend getaways – as seen in his treatment of a $10 million mansion in Aspen, Colorado during his 21st birthday bash.
That isn’t the only fiasco the youngster has gotten in hot water for, either; Paul was likewise sued for “unlawful imprisonment,” after his security detained a concerned neighbor, think he was a trespasser – an action the defendant says was “racially motivated.”