Young boys swarmed Nine’s Today to celebrate two big stars but should they be celebrating them?

Chaos erupted at Nine’s Today this morning when hundreds of young men gathered, but the stars they worship have been criticised for wild reasons.

Nine’s Sydney studio was swarmed today by hundreds of young men eager to catch a glimpse of YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI.

Paul and KSI appeared on Nine’s Today with Karl Stefanovic to spruik their new energy drink PRIME and they were met by hundreds of excited fans.

Logan Paul and KSI showing off their new energy drink. Source: Instagram/loganpaul-Prime

The droves of fans might be surprising to people that aren’t entrenched in the world of YouTube, but Paul’s influence on young men is similar to the hold One Direction had on young women during their reign. Some dedicated fans even lined up the night before to catch a glimpse of Paul and KSI on Today.

Fans are seen gathered outside the Today Show Studios in North Sydney waiting to see Logan Paul the famous Youtuber. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Logan Paul stepped out onto the balcony, at the Today Show Studios in North Sydney as the crowds of Fans gathered below. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

So who is Logan Paul? Well, he’s a content creator turned wrestler. His career has been consistently marred by scandal.

Paul, 27, started on the video sharing app Vine before moving over to YouTube and amassing billions of views.

His YouTube channel has over 23 million subscribers, and the last video he uploaded amassed over 5 million views.

He is also signed to the WWE and has made various attempts at a music career, and while the music videos for his songs rack up millions of views on YouTube, he has never managed to make the mainstream crossover.

For instance, his song ‘Outta My Hair’ has amassed over 78 million views on YouTube but never took off via radio.

Logan Paul went from YouTuber to Wrestler. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)

Paul’s charm is that he comes across as boyish, adventurous and silly. His YouTube channel feels like a love letter to boyhood. There’s everything from pranks to a video explaining how he spent $2 million on Pokemon cards.

While Paul might be popular he has also made some errors during his time in the limelight.

In 2017 Paul became involved in a massive scandal when he uploaded a video of him walking through the Aokigahara Forest in Japan, also known as the “suicide forest.”

He filmed a dead body, cracked jokes, and uploaded it to YouTube. He took it down the next day and apologised, but the video had already amassed over 6 million views.

The drama didn’t end there in 2018 he was accused of animal cruelty because he uploaded a video of him tasering to two dead rats he found in his house. In response, YouTube temporarily removed ads from his channel.

In 2019 he declared on his podcast that he planned to “go gay” for the month and dubbed March, “Male-only March.” The LGBTQI+ community slammed him for pushing forward the narrative that being gay is a choice. Paul later admitted it was a “poor choice of words”.

very poor choice of words... my fault. let’s get together and talk about it on my podcast next week? https://t.co/Ki8RKgMJOO

— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 12, 2019

In between these prominent scandals, there have been small ones. Plus-size model Eliza Johnson, appeared in the music video for his song ‘No Handlebars’. Later she claimed she felt uncomfortable on set and didn’t enjoy Logan riding her like a bike.

There were also old tweets found on Twitter where Paul allegedly made generalised comments about Asian people, and a YouTube video Paul made in 2014 that has since been deleted but featured him lassoing random women on the street to get their attention.

We have a deleted 2014 video of @LoganPaul lassoing women in the street and not letting some go until they kiss him.

It was a collab Youtube video with Sam Pepper, who weeks later would be investigated by LA police for a violent sexual assault (Source: https://t.co/Ce6FCDXGw0) pic.twitter.com/AWf0psTJB7

— MeTube (@MeTubeDoc) June 5, 2021

Meanwhile, KSI is a YouTuber, Boxer, and singer that has amassed over 23 million subscribers on YouTube.

KSI having a wild time on Today.. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

He rose to internet fame in 2009 by posting videos of him commenting on the FIFA video game series and quickly become a fan favourite for the personality he injected into them.

He has since gone on to become one of the most popular creators in the world. Just like Paul he has also faced criticism.

In the past he has come under for calling women in his earlier videos “sluts”. He had also been accused of trivialising sexual assault by pulling his self-proclaimed “rape face” in earlier videos.

Miss when boys would make the KSI rape face to me on the school playground...

— Ellie (@EllieFarts2) January 9, 2022

But, despite the many controversies, Paul and KSI have continued to reign supreme. Their joint appearance on Today caused such fanfare that some fans got hurt after pushing a concrete barricade to the ground in an attempt to get closer to them.

So, it’s safe to say while their fans might not have come out unscathed Paul and KSI for the most part have.