No television program or film provided the level of drama that the saga of Johnny Somali in Japan delivered in 2023 on social media.
The creator, whose real name is Ismael Ramsey Khalid, arrived in the country in May to troll people for views on the livestream app Twitch. He bothered people on the subway about Pearl Harbor, played racist songs out loud on trains and generally annoyed anyone he came into contact with.
Though Twitch tossed him off the platform, he found a new home on the less moderated site Kick. There, he continued his in-real-life shenanigans despite a growing number of encounters with the police and physical altercations with locals. Not a big deal for Somali — it was all converted into content.