Do we like Jake Paul?
Our score: 2 out of 10. A run of harmful words about trans people and migrants in his own words, with only a little real good (a charity foundation) set against it.
Jake Paul came up as an online creator and now fights and promotes boxing. He and brother Logan moved to Puerto Rico in 2021, reportedly for the tax benefits. That detail matters, because it keeps coming back every time he wades into American politics.
The latest big stoush was Super Bowl night in February. Paul told followers to switch off Bad Bunny's halftime show, calling him “A fake American citizen”. Puerto Ricans are US citizens, and the backlash was swift. Paul then said he meant Bad Bunny's values and criticism of the country, not his citizenship, and Logan publicly disagreed: “Puerto Ricans are Americans”.
On the harm check, the record is in his own words. In a 2023 clip he answered a question about genders with “There's three genders; male, female, and mentally ill”. In 2024 he told The Hollywood Reporter that if Trump lost, “illegal criminals” would flood in. In February he said people who dislike ICE can't call 911, and mocked singer Billie Eilish over her Grammys speech. That is a pattern of punching at trans people, migrants and critics.
Politically he is all in. In an October 2024 video he endorsed Trump, saying he couldn't “sit back and watch this blasphemy unfold”. In March he interviewed Trump, and when asked if he'd run for office himself he answered “I think so”. Trump fans see an outsider energising young voters. Others see an influencer using a big platform for the same grievance lines. We found nothing on climate or vaccines worth reporting.
On the nice side, there are accusations in the past. In 2021 a TikTok creator accused him of sexual assault in a video. He called it “100% false” and said he planned a defamation case, and no resolution was reported. In 2019 two women alleged his Team 10 house staff kicked them out for being trans. Team 10 said it would investigate, and the page we read reports no findings.
So where does that leave us? Nothing here is a crime conviction, and being a Trump voter or conservative isn't the issue. The issue is the repeated, specific jabs at trans people and migrants, in his own words. Good works are real but small beside that. He's a fighter who keeps picking the wrong opponents.