An American YouTuber who sparked outrage by kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said on Wednesday.
Johnny Somali, 25, whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael, gained notoriety for streaming provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted him in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country.
In October 2024, Somali uploaded a video of himself kissing and twerking beside a statue memorialising Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese forces during the second world war, euphemistically called “comfort women”. The clip was later removed after strong public backlash.
Somali apologised, saying he was “not aware of the significance of the statue”, but attitudes towards him remained unforgiving. He was sometimes chased and physically assaulted by offended South Koreans, according to reports at the time.
In 2023, Somali caused consternation in Japan for behaviour including taunting subway commuters about the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
