Shock Streamer Johnny Somali Facing Serious Jail Time in South Korea

There is no lack of influencers who cause controversy and chaos wherever they film. But of those problem-makers, Ramsey Khalid Ismael, aka "Johnny Somali," may be one of the worst.

He has traveled the world and caused problems in nearly every place he's visited. Yet so far, Johnny has faced mostly relative slaps on the wrist for the disrespect he's shown and the rules he's broken.

But Johnny may have finally gone too far.

The influencer is travel-locked in South Korea and awaiting news of what his fate will be after a number of publicly disrespectful acts landed him in hot water.

Now, he could be facing serious jail time. Here's what we know about Johnny's battle in South Korea, and whether or not this will be the end of the controversy king.

Johnny's latest run-in with the law may be his most serious yet. In October 2024, Johnny took a trip to South Korea where he visited a number of important cultural landmarks, including Seoul's Statue of Peace in Changdong History and Culture Park.

This is a place of solemn respect for Koreans, because it memorializes the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slaves.

Johnny, of course, saw it as an opportunity to make sexual overtures to the statues and film himself doing so.

South Korean authorities eventually arrested him and prevented him from leaving the country, according to GameRant. The influencer remains in the country as authorities keep adding new charges, including creating or sharing deepfakes, which the outlet says is a sex crime in South Korea.

They note that each of the two charges for creating deepfakes comes with the potential of 10.5 years in jail per charge. Combining that jail time with the potential from other charges, Johnny could end up in jail for up to 31 years, the outlet reports.

It's not promising for Johnny, who has always been unrepentant in being obnoxious in public.

This, of course, is far from the first time Johnny has gotten in trouble in a foreign country for his disrespectful behavior. In mid-May 2023, Johnny's videos began gaining traction for the way he was harassing people in Japan with racist comments, including allusions to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Pearl Harbor. His infamy grew so quickly that locals even took it upon themselves to harass him back and attack him.

Later in 2023, he finally pushed authorities too far and was arrested for trespassing on a construction site while filming.

Yet clearly, he didn't learn his lesson since the following year he made his way to South Korea to start harassing those locals.

So does this mean Johnny has finally brought his run of controversy to an end? It's hard to say.

According to Know Your Meme, Johnny has been famous since 2011. He has offended, insulted, disrespected, and pushed boundaries over and over. Yet people still watched him before his arrest in Korea, so it would seem the public is as fascinated with him as they are disgusted.

But this time, other creators are attempting to hold him accountable, such as Oompaville. Which may be, in part, because they dislike him on principle. But there's also the awareness that when influencers make a nuisance of themselves, it makes it harder for other influencers to do their job, and to be taken seriously.

So whether or not this will be Johnny's downfall and whether he'll even see freedom for another three decades all remains to be seen.