Johnny Somali’s most controversial moments as a live streamer are being held in custody in Korea

On October 30, 2024By Littum

YouTuber Johnny Somali has been detained by South Korean police for his own protection after angering locals with his controversial videos.

On Sunday, the 24-year-old Arizona native’s live stream showed him being physically assaulted by an unknown masked person, who was later arrested. Later videos showed the Somali – real name Ramsey Khalid Ismael – in the back of a police car. He can be seen drinking Soju, disrespecting officials and antagonizing Korean citizens in clips shared on social media. “Americans have a lot more freedom here. These n****s are protecting us, us in the back of a police car. Come and get us! Come and get us!” you can see him say.

Since then, his YouTube channel – where he had nearly 19,000 subscribers – appears to have been taken down.

But this isn’t the first time the live streamer has angered locals with his antics. Keep reading to learn about more of his controversial moments.

Kissing Comfort Woman Statue in Seoul

Ismael has repeatedly insulted South Koreans both before and during his visit to the country in October. In a now-deleted tweet from March announcing the tour, he said he planned to “beat a BTS member for no reason”.

Upon arrival in the country, a live stream showed Ismael kissing and twerking on a statue representing comfort women, who were the women and girls forced to become military sex slaves by the Japanese armed forces during World War II. However, his actions have had consequences. In a later stream after the incident, a passerby can be seen punching Somali in the face before grabbing his phone and throwing it into the distance.

One of Ismael’s signature shock tactics in his videos is to cause public unrest. Other videos from his trip show him playing loud, explicit sounds on public transport and being kicked off a bus for playing North Korean music loudly.

Shouting ‘Fukushima’ at construction site workers in Osaka

South Korea is not the only country where the live streamer has made racially insensitive comments and outraged the local population. During a trip to Japan last summer, a masked Ismael and another man entered the construction site of a hotel in Osaka and filmed themselves shouting “Fukushima” – referring to the 2011 nuclear power plant disaster – at the workers.

Ismael was arrested, released and then arrested again a month later for disturbing a restaurant by making loud noises on his phone. Although the trespassing charges were dropped, the court found him guilty of obstructing a business and fined him ¥200,000 (around £1,000) before kicking him out of the country.

Atomic Bomb Comments in Japan

This was not his only scandal during his visit to Japan. His streams in the country often depicted him mocking the local population in public by repeating phrases like Hiroshima and Nagasaki at them and loudly threatening to bomb the country (resulting in his being physically assaulted on the street again).

During a visit to the Tokyo Disney Resort in June 2023, Ismael recorded visitors’ reactions (without obtaining their consent) while playing offensive music referencing nuclear bombs over a loudspeaker.

Ismael’s offensiveness is not only limited to Asian countries. This year he received a 50-day ban from Jerusalem after pinning printed photographs of Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Jewish streamer Adin Ross to the Western Wall, a Jewish shrine. He was banned from streaming platform Kick earlier in his journey for “promoting violent behavior”, including death threats during his live streams.

Harassment of a female police officer in Tel Aviv

Adding to the growing list of his arrests, Ismael was arrested again in April for sexually harassing a female police officer at an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv. A video shows him making lewd and offensive comments to the officer, calling her a “b*tch” and telling her he’s going to “beat that ass.” “I’ll take it too. Donald Trump told me to take it. I’ll take it too,” he said.

Ismael has been permanently banned from the streaming platform Twitch, but has gone on to stream other platforms including Rumble and Kick. However, the latter has put him in temporary suspensions several times due to his offensive behavior.