Johnny Somali

Ramsey Khalid Ismael(born September 26, 2000), popularly known by his aliasJohnny Somali, is an Americanlive streamerand self-proclaimedinternet trollknown for his provocative and hostile behavior while traveling overseas.After getting banned fromTwitch, Ismael began streaming onKick(being banned since May 2024) andRumbleas a tourist inAsiancountries. His behavior has gotten him arrested or detained in different countries numerous times, including inJapanin 2023,Israelin early 2024,andSouth Koreain late 2024.As of November 2024, he is currently under a travel ban preventing him from leavingSouth Korea.
Ismael has reportedly made several conflicting claims about his ethnicity. He reportedly once claimed to have been born to a Somali father and an Ethiopian mother.Ismael also claimed to have been a formerchild soldierand a formerpirate; several sources have expressed doubt about these claims.
Ismael also claims to have grown up inScottsdale, Arizona, and graduated fromArizona State University,but he also claims to been a financial worker, or a real estate manager.Other sources cite him to be an Arizona native.
Ismael mostly streams himself on video streaming platforms such asYouTubeandKickas a tourist travelling in different countries, in particularJapan,Thailand, andIsrael.Ismael also visitedBaliinIndonesiadespite calls for him to be barred from entry.He began streaming in May 2023. After being banned fromTwitch, he moved to Kick before receiving temporary suspensions from Kick.He was banned on Kick in May 2024 and unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Twitch into unbanning him. He currently streams onRumble.
During his travels to Japan, Ismael madeanti-Japanesetaunts towards locals,which include comments about thebombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,and threatened to bomb Japan withnuclear weaponson a train. Ismael was occasionally assaulted and called racial slurs by locals who recognized him in public.In one incident, he was confronted by an American man for his behavior, leading Ismael to state, "I'm atroll."The American man was praised by many people on the internet for his actions, while Ismael claimed to have been drunk at the time and had apologized to the man.Ismael harassed Meowko, a Japanese Twitch streamer, which contributed to Ismael's subsequent ban by Twitch.
In June 2023, Ismael went toTokyo Disney Resortand played music with lyrics containing the phrase "atomic bomb" and recorded guests' reactions without their permission.
In August 2023, Ismael, who was masked, and Jeremiah Dwane Branch, who was recording for him, went into a hotel construction site inOsaka, where he then yelled "Fukushima" at the construction workers. After the construction workers kicked them out, Ismael and Branch were both arrested on suspicion of trespassing.In September, they were arrested on the suspicion ofconspiracy of obstruction of businesswhen they disrupted a restaurant by playing extremely loud noises and music during business hours.He claimed that the reason the music was playing was because of the phone producer,Huawei, who "put a Chinese virus on the phone". This was later brought up in court, where the judge found him guilty and stated, "he could've just turned down the volume on his phone".
On December 19, 2023, Ismael, who had been in custody since his second arrest, appeared at the Osaka District Court on the charge of conspiracy of obstruction of business.The charge of trespassing on a construction site was dropped. Prosecutors requested a fine of ¥200,000.Ismael later admitted to lying in court to the judge and prosecutor, having previously claimed to have made no money from his videos.A verdict of guilt was reached on January 10, 2024. He was fined ¥200,000 (the equivalent of US$1,400) and voluntarily returned to the United States.
In March 2024, Ismael stopped livestreaming and instead opted for "Zoomtrolling", mostly targeting Zoom calls involving Japanese people.
On March 25, 2024, Ismael went toTel Aviv, Israel, where he became involved in altercations with local Arab and Jewish people there. He was then confronted and beaten.As a result of his stream, Ismael was suspended from Kick for a week due to inciting and promoting violent behavior.
On April 5, 2024, he traveled to theWestern WallinJerusalem, where he began live-streaming. He filmed himself attaching images ofHarvey Weinstein,Adin Ross, andJeffrey Epsteinto the wall, proclaiming Weinstein as one of his "top Jews" and making insulting remarks towards Ross. He was arrested and received a 50-day ban from Jerusalem.
On April 7, 2024, Ismael was detained at a protest in Tel Aviv for sexual harassment of a female police officer. After his release 16 minutes later, Ismael went live again on the same day and claimed to have witnessed a mass shooting at a restaurant.He also excused his actions for being an American citizen.On May 19, 2024, Ismael was assaulted in Israel after being accused of "snitching".One of the men was seen holding an item, possibly a weapon, but Ismael was not assaulted with it.
On September 27, 2024, Ismael went toSeoul, where he got onstage during a live music performance.He also loudly played obscene noises on the subway, such as speeches byKim Jong Un, and was ejected from a bus after loudly playingNorth Korean music.
On October 7, 2024, he kissed and performedlap danceson theStatue of Peace, a memorial that commemorates youngcomfort women(sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II) though he later apologized for his actions, claiming he didn't know the significance of the statue.After this happened, his YouTube channel was terminated.On one occasion, Ismael boughtramyeon noodlesand then purposefully poured it on a table in the dining area. After being confronted by the store owner and told to leave, Ismael proceeded to throw noodles out of the store. Due to this and him being barred from drinking alcohol, Ismael made sexist comments towards the worker.He was reported to the police the same day.
On November 2, 2024, he was barred from leaving the country while being under probation for his earlier incidents.On November 6, Ismael uploaded an apology video in which he filmed next to the Statue of Peace, of which viewers doubted his sincerity. It was also reported that there were bounties offered to reveal his location.While live streaming on multiple occasions, Ismael was assaulted by others in public.He wasphysically assaultedthree times by various people, twice inMapo District, and additionally by a man who reportedly came up to Ismael and said “Where are you going?” before striking him.
On November 11, Ismael was indicted by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office on charges of "obstruction of business" over the October 17 incident at the convenience store. A travel ban linked to the case prevents him from leaving South Korea.In December, his trial was postponed until  March 2025.