American live-streamer indicted in South Korea over offensive antics

SEOUL, South Korea — An American live-streamer known for his offensive stunts abroad has been indicted by South Korean authorities for causing a “commotion” at a convenience store, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Ramsey Khalid Ismael, better known by his online alias Johnny Somali, is a 24-year-old live-streamer who hurls provocative and offensive insults while traveling abroad, including in U.S. allies South Korea and Japan. 

A spokesperson for the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office told reporters Wednesday that Somali will face trial and is also banned from leaving the country.

He is, however, not detained, the spokesperson’s office said.

South Korea often imposes travel bans when there’s a flight risk.

Somali, whose streams often involve desecrating monuments and harassing local residents, has been banned multiple times from various social media platforms and currently streams on Rumble, a live-streaming platform with looser moderation policies than Twitch, another popular live-streaming platform.

In videos Somali posted on Instagram last month, he appears to be drinking alcohol while in a convenience store, where he pours instant noodles on a table before cleaning it up.

The video is no longer available on his YouTube channel.

Somali has also drawn outrage in South Korea over his behavior around the Statue of Peace in Seoul, also known as the Comfort Woman statue, which commemorates the tens of thousands of Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese forces during World War II.

Video still available on the platform Rumble shows Somali kissing the statue, printing out a picture of himself kissing it and then showing the picture to passersby in Seoul.

He later apologized, Agence France-Presse reported, saying he was unaware of the statue’s significance.

The Yonhap news agency reported that Somali has been beaten up on multiple occasions while in South Korea, including once by another live-streamer.

The overseas antics of Somali and numerous other “nuisance influencers” have frequently been condemned by authorities and locals alike.

In Japan, they are known for duping ticket inspectors on trains, disrupting convenience stores and hassling passengers on the subway.

Last year, Japanese authorities arrested Somali for trespassing on a construction site, the Kyodo News agency reported. He also mocked Japanese commuters over the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

Stella Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea, and Mithil Aggarwal from Hong Kong.