Banned Kick streamer Johnny Somali is once again causing chaos abroad after he was booted off a subway by police in South Korea for playing loud and inappropriate noises during a broadcast.
Johnny Somali is notorious for his disruptive live streams, most notably getting arrested and fined by Japanese authorities for broadcasting loudly in a restaurant and allegedly trespassing on a construction site in the country in 2023.
Since then, he’s continued his travels, getting banned from Jerusalem and now having a run-in with South Korean police.
In a September 2024 stream, Somali took a subway to Lotte World to attend a KPop-themed dance class. He took viewers along with him in a subway when his text-to-speech donations began playing loud, inappropriate noises.
9/30 11:52ジョニーソマリ @JohnnySomaliX がKoreaIRL day4をスタートロッテワールドへ行きKPOPダンスのクラス、そのあとBongbongirlと合流する予定地下鉄で卑猥な音声やTTSを流しトラブルになっている https://t.co/u64DTKbb6w pic.twitter.com/1OLq0EwLWU
— ジョニーリマソ (@canceljohnnys) September 30, 2024
Somali continued to walk through the train, exclaiming, “George Floyd — I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” drawing stares from travelers around him. One passenger even confronted him, asking him to be quiet on public transport.
It wasn’t long before police surrounded the streamer and escorted him off the train, seemingly unmoved by his pleas as he explained that he was streaming.
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“Goddamn it guys, I am getting pressed,” Somali said to his chat. “This is crazy. The police are already here. We gotta go on the taxi.”
騒音で苦情が入り地下鉄職員から配信を止めるように注意を受けるジョニーソマリ通報を恐れ一度駅から出るが再度乗車する pic.twitter.com/AUvBeyIlc0
— ジョニーリマソ (@canceljohnnys) September 30, 2024
In South Korea, as well as Japan, it is considered rude to speak loudly or exhibit disruptive behavior on public transportation. Somali has been confronted by locals several times for this exact offense, and has even been physically assaulted by outraged citizens in the past.
However, Somali says he’ll continue streaming despite the backlash against him, and has even threatened to sue critics like PewDiePie for accusing him of “ruining” countries like Japan for tourists and foreigners hoping to live there.
While Kick itself has banned the streamer in the past for “promoting violent behavior,” he continues to broadcast on platforms like YouTube, where he currently boasts over 18,000 subscribers.