Logan Paul's friends Bradley Martyn and Kyle Forgeard were surprised to see him declare he wouldn't offer Andrew Tate a platform by fighting the controversial kickboxer.
The former world champion fighter has been banned from all social media for alleged breaches of terms of service.
However, he has managed to maintain his relevance on fringe platforms such as Rumble, as well as through viral posts by other users on major platforms, including constant videos on TikTok, where he never had an account.
But in terms of mainstream acceptance, Tate's return to the public consciousness would likely be complete if he were to step in the ring against Paul, with the YouTuber expected to fight on January 14.
It would mirror the boost that he was given when KSI called him out for a fight in 2018, but he has expressed concern about giving a platform to Tate's at-times misogynist rhetoric.
“I don’t feel like platforming this guy,” he explained when addressing a potential fight with Tate on his Impaulsive podcast last month. “I don’t feel like giving him the blessing of being my dance partner in the ring. Especially after the social media platforms have made it very clear how they feel about this guy.
“You want to re-platform this guy? Anyone. You want to have him on your shows, do you want to give him another opportunity to speak and spread his agenda? Because whether you believe it or not, the s*** that Andrew Tate is saying will have a ripple effect much more dangerous than you can imagine.”
But his pals, who themselves have travelled to Croatia in order to have Tate on their popular Full Send Podcast, see the situation differently. And after what Paul went through following his own 'cancellation' in 2018, they expected him to be more forgiving of the controversial kickboxer.
"I was pretty surprised that he took that stance," Forgeard said on a recent podcast episode, with Martyn agreeing. "I was just surprised. From knowing Logan and Mike [Majlak, his co-host on Impaulsive] I was just surprised that they took that stance, I thought they would have at least stood up. I know that Jake Paul tweeted 'I don't agree with Tate but I'm for free speech'."
Martyn then added: "My thing is that I just don't know why they took it that far. I understand the reasoning, but I don't understand why it went that far, that's all. He basically said that 'everything this guy is saying is evil and the rhetoric is foul and it's going to effect kids for time to come, we aren't going to see it yet.'
"It was a very tall statement and then he challenged other content creators and said that they shouldn't platform this guy, because he doesn't want to - a lot of people were very heavily disagreeing, there were lots of comments disagreeing and saying 'why would you take this stance?' It's really just in relation to Logan going through his own cancellation thing, and then coming back and shining afterwards."
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Forgeard jumped in to joke that his group Nelk have always been, and given a platform to, "scumbags", claiming it to be one part of the formula for their success. He also made the tongue-in-cheek suggestion that Paul and Majlak are doing it to impress girls at swanky LA clubs.
"That's the beauty of us," he added. "We've been scumbags so we just continue to support scumbags, put scumbags on, that's what's so dope about our s***. Bro, if it was anyone else, they'd be f***ing cancelled - our fans just don't f***ing care, bro. That's what's great.
"I think Logan and Mike slay [have sex with] a lot of hot LA chicks too. So that might have been a smart move, actually, to take that stance. I'm sure they probably went to like Delilah [a West California hotspot] and probably got a lot of tail. All the girls were probably like 'thank you so much' - it was actually a power move.
"They probably went into LA that next two days when that went viral and all the girls were like 'thank you, I know you guys got a lot of hate but thank you guys so much,' and they f***ing slayed. It was actually really smart. They're playing chess, we're playing checkers."
