Louis Cole

Louis John Cole (born 28 April 1983), better known by his online alias FunForLouis, is an English-born film-maker and YouTube personality based in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California. He has a following of over 2 million on YouTube and is best known for posting a daily video blog on the channel FunForLouis, which documents his life and travels adventuring all over the globe. Cole originally found fame through filming eating stunts on another channel, FoodForLouis, but has since taken these videos down to focus on the positive message of FunForLouis.

This article is about the English video blogger. For the American musician, see Knower (band).

Louis Cole
Cole at VidCon 2014
Personal information
BornLouis John Cole
(1983-04-28) 28 April 1983
Epsom, Surrey, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationYouTube personality
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2011–present
Subscribers2 million
Total views318.9 million
100,000 subscribers 2013
1,000,000 subscribers 2014
Updated: 22 June 2020

Louis appeared on the BBC TV show called 'Homefront' when he was younger.[1]

In 2007 Cole purchased and renovated a double-decker bus, equipping it as a mobile centre to help homeless youth with music and video game facilities.[2] The Boombus project now receives funding from local council wards.[3]

Discovery signed Cole to its Digital Seeker Network in 2015.[4]

Cole has been named a top travel influencer.[5][6]

Daily vlogs

Cole started to post daily vlogs on to his channel FunForLouis on 31 December 2012 (2012-12-31). He has released over 1486 vlogs consecutively as of 25 October 2017. Through this, Cole has managed to gain over 1.92 million subscribers as of 28 May 2017.[7]

FoodForLouis

In 2019, Louis restarted his FoodForLouis as a Vegan cooking channel.

Live The Adventure

Louis Cole has a social media travel management agency brand based on his slogan called Live The Adventure often referred to as LTA.

Find The Nomads

Find The Nomads was a clothing company founded by Cole, Steve Booker and Jake Evans. It was started on 9 May 2014 and dissolved on 28 June 2016[8]

Beyond Borders - A Journey Celebrating Global Diversity

Beyond Borders involved flying to 22 cities with his friend and pilot Juan-Peter Schulze (JP) over a period of 60 – 90 days. The journey began in Kern Valley, California, USA on August 21, 2017. The journey has been concluded however the film documenting the trip is over a year past due for release.[9]

Solvey

In 2016, Louis co-founded The Solvey Project with Dave Erasmus with the aim of funding social entrepreneurs.[10][11]

Louis and Dave presented on stage at Social Progress - What Works? in Reykjavik, Iceland with then Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson.[12]

Beyond Borders - A Film Celebrating Unity

On 22 March 2017, Cole announced on his YouTube channel that he is starting a Kickstarter campaign to fund a documentary flying around the world called Beyond Borders - A Film Celebrating Unity with JP.[13] The £100,000 goal was reached before the kickstarter ended with a total amount of £111,563 raised by 1,666 backers.[14]

As of 2019, this project is in post production with an extended trailer being shown at Buffer Festival Toronto in September 2018.

Controversy

2012

In April 2012 he posted a video of himself to his YouTube channel Food For Louis that showed him eating a live goldfish. This caused the RSPCA to prepare a case against him under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Since he had previously only eaten invertebrates, the fish was the first incident in which he may have broken the law. The case was settled: he admitted his "guilt" and received a caution, avoiding a trial and a possible criminal record.[15] He has received death threats from some animal lovers.[16]

In the past, Cole has eaten locusts, a raw heart, maggots, roadkill rabbit, roadkill pigeon, a frog corpse, ragworms, and scorpions.[17][18][19]

Cole claims his videos are not cruel and that he kills the animals quickly to avoid any unnecessary suffering. He argues that viewers' disgust is based on ignorance of or bias against other culinary cultures.[20] He has denied that his goldfish-eating stunt caused unnecessary suffering, and claims that the RSPCA is "wasting its time" in pursuing the case.[21]

2016

At the beginning of 2016 while driving in New Zealand with his girlfriend Raya, he was pulled over for speeding 41 km/h over the speed limit. While the officer caught him travelling at 141 km/h (87 mph), he used discretion to officially register it as 139 km/h. Since he was registered under 40 km/h over the limit, under New Zealand law Cole received a NZD$400 fine instead of automatic loss of licence. The story made national headlines in New Zealand.[22][23]

In August 2016, Cole was criticized for his vlogs from his visit to North Korea.[24] He was accused of promoting North Korea and his videos were described as propaganda for the North Korean regime.[25] He has stated that he disagrees with the ideology of the regime and that the content was not funded by the North Korean government.[26]

References
  1. My Jungle Bedroom | My Memories, 2013-03-09, retrieved 2017-03-24
  2. Johnathan Stayton. "Louis is on the right route to help youth". Get Surrey. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  3. Poppy Bradbury. "Boom Bus offers bored youngsters something to do". Ealing Gazette. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  4. "GLOBAL TRAVELER LOUIS COLE BRINGS HIS 'FUN' TO DISCOVERY DIGITAL NETWORKS' SEEKER". Discovery Digital Media. May 4, 2015.
  5. Street, Francesca (June 27, 2017). "World's top 10 travel influencers, according to Forbes". CNN.
  6. "Top Influencers: Travel". Forbes. June 20, 2017.
  7. "FunForLouis YouTube Stats, Channel Statistics - Socialblade.com". socialblade.com. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  8. "Find The Nomads | UK Companies Register".
  9. "Beyond Borders - A Film Celebrating Global Diversity by Louis Cole". Beyond Borders.
  10. Chhabra, Esha (April 22, 2016). "YouTubers FunForLouis And Dave Erasmus Embark On Global Journey To Fund Social Entrepreneurs". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
  11. "The Solvey Project". solvey.com (Press release). Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  12. "Social Progress - What Works?". www.geothermalconference.is. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  13. "Beyond Borders - A Film Celebrating Unity". Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  14. "Beyond Borders - A Film Celebrating Global Diversity by Louis Cole -- Kickstarter". Kickstarter.
  15. "Should the RSPCA have pursued the man who ate a live goldfish?". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  16. "Food for Louis star from Cobham to take on 'worst meal yet'". Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  17. Thring, Oliver. "The man who eats live animals". The Guardian blog. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  18. Laura Hibbard. "Louis Cole, Web Series Star, Eats Live Scorpion". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
  19. "Food For Louis Youtube Channel". Youtube. Archived from the original on August 8, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  20. Franklin, Marcy. "The Guy Who Eats Live Animals Isn't as Cruel as You Think". The Daily Meal. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  21. David Lindsell. "Goldfish eater denies animal cruelty". Wandsworth Guardian. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  22. "'This is why so many Kiwis get killed by tourists' - outrage over YouTube star's speeding on NZ road". 1News. January 13, 2016.
  23. Walters, Laura (January 12, 2016). "British YouTube star caught going 141kmh in New Zealand". Stuff.co.nz.
  24. Lawson, Richard. "YouTube Stars Are Now Being Used for North Korean Propaganda". Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  25. Butterfly, Amelia. "Vlogger Louis Cole denies North Korea paid for videos of his trip". Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  26. Cresci, Elena (2016-08-18). "YouTube star Louis Cole denies making propaganda films for North Korea". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
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