Jake Paul Reveals How He Really Feels About His Short-Lived Career on the Disney Channel (Exclusive)

Jake Paul has nothing but good things to say about his Disney days.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the star — who initially found fame as a content creator on the now-shuttered Vine app and later YouTube, and has since taken up professional boxing — speaks candidly about how starring on the Disney Channel affected his career growing up.

“Man, it was just a fun time to be honest,” Paul, 28, recalls of his time on Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark, alongside Olivia Rodrigo, before he left the show in 2017. “I think it was a good kickstart to my career, because I was the first-ever influencer on TV.”

“I think that really set a lot of things into motion for me, and I learned a lot about acting and media and all that stuff,” he adds.

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Paul — who currently stars in Paul American, a new reality series that follows his family, including brother Logan Paul — starred in Bizaardvark between 2016 and 2017 as an online celebrity, Dirk Mann.

He regularly appeared across the first season of the series, which followed two teenage best friends and their internet adventures, but in July 2017, Disney announced that he would be leaving the show halfway into filming its second season.

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A month later, Paul confirmed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he was actually fired from the show because of a KTLA news segment, which centered around complaints from his neighbors about his behavior and the overall disturbance from his then-house.

“They were like, ‘Okay. We want to expedite this process of weaning you off the show,’ ” he told the outlet of The Walt Disney Company. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s fine. But it’s going to look like you guys fired me.’ And they were like, ‘We can say that we mutually parted ways and blah, blah, blah.’ And that’s the reality of the story.”

Over the years, Paul’s career has notably been enmeshed in controversy, ranging from scam allegations to accusations of sexual assault.

In 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged him with violating investor protection laws by promoting cryptocurrencies without disclosing that he was sponsored to do so. Paul settled the charges for over $400,000.

The influencer also faced two sexual assault allegations in 2021, including an accusation from content creator Justine Paradise. Paul denied the allegations, and neither case went to court.

Paul American is available to stream on Max, with new episodes dropping every Thursday.