American YouTuber Johnny Somali sentenced to 6 months in prison for offenses in Korea

American YouTuber Johnny Somali appears for his sentencing hearing at Seoul Western District Court in Mapo District, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

The Seoul Western District Court sentenced American YouTuber Johnny Somali to six months in prison and 20 days of detention on Wednesday for a series of disruptive and offensive acts committed in Korea.

The court also barred him from working at institutions involving children, adolescents and people with disabilities for five years. Somali, who had been free throughout the trial, was taken into custody in the courtroom following the ruling over concerns that he is a flight risk.

The 24-year-old, whose legal name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael, was convicted of charges including obstruction of business and distribution of false sexual video content and had drawn widespread public anger for provocative and demeaning behavior.

In February, prosecutors sought a three-year prison sentence and a 150,000 won ($101) fine for Somali, who was indicted for interfering with business by blasting music and spilling cup noodle broth at a convenience store in Mapo District, Seoul, in October 2024. That same month, he confronted pedestrians with a bag of foul-smelling fish and disrupted people on buses and subway trains by playing loud music and dancing.

During the proceedings, additional charges were brought against him for live-streaming a disturbance at Lotte World, an amusement park in Songpa District, Seoul, that blocked passengers from boarding rides, and for distributing obscene deepfake videos online, also in 2024. That year, he sparked outrage by kissing the Statue of Peace, a memorial dedicated to victims of Japanese wartime sexual slavery.

At his first hearing in March 2025, Somali arrived an hour late and was turned away from the courtroom for wearing a red hat bearing "Make America Great Again," a phrase associated with supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump. At the time, he made provocative remarks, saying, “I am an American citizen. And Korea is a vassal state of America.”

Last July, he displayed the Japanese rising sun flag during a live stream on his social media, calling for Japan to reoccupy Korea, referring to Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the peninsula. He also claimed Dokdo, a group of islets that are Korean territory but claimed by Japan, belongs to Tokyo.