South Korea jails US streamer Johnny Somali for statue outrage
In 2024, Somali uploaded a video of himself twerking beside a statue commemorating Korean "comfort women", the euphemistic term for wartime sex slaves.
A screenshot showing the streamer Johnny Somali from a YouTube clip dated Apr 7, 2026. (Image: YouTube/Johnny Somali)
SEOUL: An American YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said on Wednesday (Apr 15).
Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch.
South Korean authorities indicted Somali - whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael - in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country.
"The court has sentenced him to six months in prison," a representative of the Seoul Western District Court told AFP when asked about Somali's case on Wednesday.
In October 2024, Somali uploaded a video of himself kissing and twerking beside a statue memorialising Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese occupying forces before and during World War II, euphemistically called "comfort women" in Japan.
The incident caused strong public backlash and condemnation, and the clip was later removed.
Somali apologised, saying he was "not aware of the significance of the statue".
But attitudes towards him remained unforgiving, and he was sometimes chased and even physically assaulted by offended South Koreans, according to reports at the time.
In 2023, Somali caused consternation in neighbouring Japan for behaviour including taunting subway commuters about Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the two cities devastated by US atomic bombs in 1945.
