Celebrities at the Pentagon: How unusual was the Paul brothers’ visit?

Influencers Logan and Jake Paul are the latest celebrities to visit the Pentagon, where they addressed troops and met with United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Paul brothers, who made the visit on Thursday, are content creators and are also known for combat sports. They shared photos and videos of the visit over the weekend on social media. The posts also included images from a separate meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

It remains unclear why the two visited the Pentagon, but the appearance comes amid a broader push to promote martial arts and physical fitness among service members, including efforts to recruit troops to attend the UFC event held at the White House in June.

The visit also comes ahead of the “State of the Force” address, Hegseth’s annual speech to troops slated for later this month. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Hegseth asked commanders to nominate troops to attend the address, where they could also have the opportunity to “work out” with him.

Celebrities and other public figures have visited the Pentagon during multiple administrations.

In 2019, during US President Donald Trump’s first term in office, actor Milo Ventimiglia of the television show This Is Us visited the Pentagon to discuss ways to strengthen the “civilian-military connection”. In 2018, actor Gerard Butler also visited the Pentagon to discuss his film Hunter Killer, which was made in collaboration with the US Navy.

Gene Simmons, the frontman of the band KISS and a prominent supporter of the military and veterans, visited the Pentagon in 2019 and addressed service members and reporters in the press room.

Such visits also took place during the administration of former US President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Actor David Boreanaz toured the Pentagon in October 2024 as part of a United Service Organizations (USO) tour, in which celebrities, musicians and other public figures travel to military bases around the world to entertain US service members. Boreanaz was there in connection with his role in the television series SEAL Team.

During the administration of former US President Barack Obama, the Pentagon also shared information with filmmakers Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow on the hunt for Osama bin Laden, details that they used in the making of Zero Dark Thirty, a film about the operation that led to bin Laden’s killing. The visit was controversial because it gave the filmmakers unusually extensive access to the Pentagon’s workings.

The Paul brothers have been embroiled in controversy for years. Last week, Jake Paul said the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects the right to bear arms, needs “updating”, claiming that shotguns and pistols would not be able to “upthrow” the government if needed, as weapon systems become more advanced.

“We maybe need to be able to bear more advanced weapons systems as citizens,” Paul told an influencer at the All-In Summit.

In 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Jake Paul over his promotion of Tronix (TRX), a cryptocurrency created by crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun. The SEC said he failed to disclose that he was paid about $25,000 in cryptocurrency to promote it in 2021 on X, then known as Twitter.

The brothers built their fame in part through stunts designed to attract attention. Logan Paul, for example, posted a video on YouTube that showed the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan’s Aokigahara forest, colloquially dubbed the “suicide forest”, and made jokes at the victim’s expense before eventually removing the video.

Jake Paul was charged with trespassing after he was filmed inside an Arizona shopping mall during unrest and looting amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020. The charges against Jake Paul were later dropped.

The visit prompted backlash. Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman, reposted a video of the visit, writing, “We aren’t a serious country at the moment.”

Progressive media outlet MeidasTouch Network also criticised the visit, writing, “Idiocracy didn’t go far enough,” in response to the clip.

The comments were among widespread criticism on social media in response to the brothers’ visit.

In a lengthy post of his own, Jake Paul pushed back against the criticism.

“Because I’d rather be in the room asking questions, learning, challenging ideas, building relationships, and figuring out how I can help than sitting behind a screen telling everyone else what they should be doing,” Jake Paul said.