cross-posted from: https://piefed.zip/c/news/p/1395876/streamer-troll-johnny-somali-found-guilty-on-all-counts-sentenced-to-south-korean-prison-l
Ramsey Khalid Ismael — better known as Johnny Somali, the infamous American streamer arrested in Japan, Israel, and South Korea for his provocative behavior — has been imprisoned in South Korea.
okay. controversial opinion time
this was all extremely dickish troll behavior but i don’t think A PRISON CAMP is necessarily the most rehabilitative experience. punitive justice doesn’t fucking work and nobody deserves to be put through A PRISON LABOR CAMP regardless of how much of an annoyance they were being
in an ideal world there would mechanisms in place to educate this fuckhead without needlessly traumatizing and brutalizing him. sensitivity training. cultural education. empathy and dignity. true justice that will actually change his behavior
but prison camp? i bet he’s gonna come outta this twice as much an enormous douchebag
I agree with your sentiment but when a human being is this antagonistic towards every country he visits then it’s justified. Definitely a slipper slope moment but just look at this:
Ismael was certain he wouldn’t be imprisoned, saying in a stream: "I know for a fact that I’m not going to go to jail. Not one day in jail. I’m going to laugh my ass off when all these motherf***ers are saying I’m going for 30 years, 20 years, five years, 10 years. I’m not even going to do one day, bro. They’ll give me a fine and say, ‘Don’t come back to Korea.’ You’re the one that’s going to look so dumb when I don’t get any jailtime or anything. Bro, I’m going to laugh like a f**king villain.
“I did go there. I recognized all the charges. I said I was guilty. I did say all that s**t because it’s going to be a fine. I’m just going to pay it and leave. You can’t go to jail for this s**t. You can’t.”
It’s so hard to be sympathetic to this piece of trash. Plus it seems like he’s not even doing 3 years. He’s fine.
Its almost impossible to have not at least sentenced him to 1 day after something like that if a prison sentence is legitimately on the table.
Please… he got 6 months for all the shit he pulled. It was so much more than just dickish trolling.
He deserved far more. He got off easy. But it serves two purposes. For one, korea got their message across. Don’t come here to fuck around. And second, they don’t want to pay for him being in their prison.
In an ideal world, people don’t pull this shit to begin with. So we’re already well past an “ideal world scenario”. It’s not this guys first rodeo. These people will never learn unless they face some real, actual consequences.
Yeah. The prosecutors were pushing 3 years. I think he deserves MORE than 6 months.
Its not about punishing the guy. It is about sending a message that this will not be tolerated. Also, different cultures are different, culturally.
different cultures are different, culturally.
i’m pretty sure torture is just as brutal in every culture. something merely being a cultural difference doesn’t immediately make it worthy of keeping around. for example, should we respect japanese culture’s weird obsession with sexualizing underage characters? NO! it being different than what we’re used to doesn’t automatically make it okay
Yea, when something that is apart of your culture causes harm to others, it shouldn’t be apart of your culture. Phase it out. Acknowledge it, but phase it out and teach why you phased it out.
We should strive for kindness and care when it comes to culture both of our own and others.
Reading more. It doesn’t sound like what type of camp I was thinking. I’m still sure it probably needs updates to ideas and whatnot, but I also don’t think punishments should be totally easy. As well as learning what got him in this hot water, he definitely deserves to harshly punished with what would best fit the crime.
He’s a douchebag that’s used to acting as such without consequences (or even with profit). A prison labor camp sounds like exactly the sort of wakeup call this guy needs
OTOH maybe this will ground him a bit more and he will be a more self-reflective douchebag.
I don’t know. Maybe a few weeks behind a rock with a whip behind his back might teach him to be mindful of where he is the next time he’s going to act like an idiot
Bad take
ahahahahaha
fafo
That has to be one of the more punchable faces I have seen. And I do not advocate violence. But he might be n exception.
Apparently he kissed a statue of a woman that was built as a memorial to all the south Korean women that were raped by the Japanese during their colonial rule. In case anyone was wondering what he did to end up in jail.
I’m willing to bet he knew exactly what that statue was a memorial for.
This made my day. He thought he was untouchable and now is in a forced labor camp for 6 months.
Dude is just one of the worst humans.
Forced labor camps in South Korea is just a legal term.
https://www.corrections.go.kr/corrections_eng/1905/subview.do
They’re not cracking rocks with sledgehammers in the desert.
Good, these are the types of guys that go “It’s just a prank bro” or “It’s a social experiment” except it isn’t. It’s just you being an inconsiderate jerk.
There are a lot of enablers, the viewers that find all that bullshit funny. Guilty by association, I suppose
I think the viewers of streams like his should get a swift kick in the nuts or vag and maybe kept from reproducing because nobody consuming his content is a good person.
Like, you’re right the streamers getting money by acting like assholes are only making money because of the audience. Said audience members are just as shitty as people.
Hopefully they are just young and dumb and will grow up and get smarter. But yeah, they could just be shit.
like, fuck people who watch these absolute shitheads, but I don’t really buy that. people look at car crashes. i don’t think reckless drivers are “enabled”.
I don’t think a car crash is an apt comparison in this case, that is usually an accident and not something easy to ignore and pretend it didn’t happen - it affects everyone who wants to use the road where the crash happened. Nobody is clapping and cheering.
What this asshole does isn’t an accident, it’s intentional. People follow him expecting bullshit and praising him for that. He’s akin to people who like to drive recklessly and post and brag about it online.
This guy is like a reverse hostage. Countries will threaten to release him if they don’t get what they want.
It’s an SCP. The containment procedure is to livestream his location at all times and make it legal for everyone to beat him up.
Mf was so annoying they sent him to the gulag
If they do a prisoner exchange with North Korea anytime in the near future, they should send this guy to them. Just because. Maybe it will teach the arrogant US citizens to behave better in other countries.
Note, I’m not saying that about the US citizens that are considerate human beings.
Finally some good news in 2026
Now that he’s convicted, an interesting question might be “is there enough evidence to convict him in other countries who have extradition treaties with South Korea?”…
I have limited sympathy for people who make their living by bothering people.
Sounds like he deserved it
Until today, I knew nothing about Mr Somali, but a cursory glance at his medium of choice shows him to be…not well liked
Ray William Johnson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjhpcyBdt88&t=0
Legal mindset:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbto0N6PkIs&t=0
“What are you, like a professional asshole?”
“Yes”
Mr Somali now joins the ranks of Charlie Zelenoff in the FAFO game.
Perhaps the only shame is that he didn’t try his little stunt in Singapore, where public caning is still a thing.
Now I used to like RWJ, but it did become a bit cringe and corporate over the years, so I’m genuinely surprise how watchable that video was.
Good, idiots like this deserve to face the consequences of their actions
Only 6 months tho we think
six months in a South Korean work camp filled with actual criminals that have a great disdain for foreigners. oh, they racists too.
I think he’ll leave SK and never come back when he’s finally released.
He will also be a registered sex offender and not allowed back.
Just cut his balls off and send him up North.
