American livestreamer/YouTuber Johnny Somali caused an outrage in South Korea back in November 2024, when Seoul authorities charged him for public nuisance after he posted a clip of himself kissing and performing lap dances on a statue. The thing is, the statue was representing World War II sex slaves. Somali, whose real name is Ismael Ramsey Khalid, has been barred from leaving the country since then, and has now been sentenced to six months in jail for public nuisance, as reported by BBC.
The 25-year-old is known for his provocative content which has led to him being banned from several streaming platforms. Currently Khalid has around 5,000 followers on YouTube, and he issued an apology for his behaviour back in November 2024. But sometimes an apology alone is not enough.
A South Korean court has now convicted Khalid of multiple charges, including for being a public nuisance and distributing sexual deepfakes. Khalid has also been barred from working with organisations that serve minors and people with disabilities when he is eventually released.
During World War II, an estimated 200,000 women around Asia were forced to be wartime sex slaves for Japanese soldiers. Many of them were Korean, and others came from China, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan. There are several statues across South Korea, and Ismael Ramsey Khalid decided to livestream himself kissing one of these statues.
This was not the first time Khalid has caused a public scene. Other places include Tel Aviv, Israel, and Japan.