An American livestreamer has been sentenced to prison in South Korea after a provocative stunt filmed for social media.
Johnny Somali, a 25-year-old creator with roughly 5,000 YouTube followers, has developed a reputation for inflammatory videos and has been banned from posting on multiple streaming services.
The influencer, whose legal name is Ismael Ramsey Khalid, has received a six-month jail sentence following an incident in which he kissed a statue associated with victims of wartime sexual slavery.
Officials in Seoul charged him with public nuisance in November 2024 after a video circulated showing him kissing the statue and performing lap dances on it. He has been prohibited from leaving South Korea since then.
On Wednesday, a South Korean court found Khalid guilty of several offences, including public nuisance and the distribution of sexual deepfakes.
Across South Korea, multiple memorials commonly referred to as “comfort women” statues depict a young woman seated in a chair. During World War II, historians estimate up to 200,000 women across Asia were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops.
Many of the victims were Korean, while others came from places including China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.
Activists installed the statues to commemorate the women and keep public attention on their experiences. The memorials have also been a recurring source of diplomatic strain, with South Korea urging Japan to provide reparations.
“The defendant repeatedly committed crimes against unspecified members of the public to generate profit via YouTube and distributed the content in disregard of Korean law,” the court said, South Korean media reported.
According to The Korea Herald, prosecutors requested a three-year prison sentence, but the court imposed a shorter six-month term, citing the “absence of severe harm to victims”.
Following his release, Khalid will also be restricted from working with organisations that serve minors and people with disabilities.
After the incident in 2024, Khalid said he did not realise the statues’ significance and issued an apology, claiming he ‘didn’t understand the significance’.
Separate clips posted online have shown him confronting residents in South Korea and attempting to provoke fights, with some videos reportedly capturing him being punched and chased through streets.
The BBC previously reported that he had also caused disruption on public transport, vandalised a convenience store, and streamed obscene material in public spaces.
He has additionally faced accusations of harassing people while filming in Japan and Israel.
Earlier in 2024, he was detained during a protest in Tel Aviv after reportedly making inappropriate remarks to a female officer, though he was later released.
In 2023, he drew backlash in Japan after taunting locals with comments about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, among other remarks.