A South Korean special forces soldier has responded after YouTuber ‘Donut Operator’ paid the remainder of the $7K fine he’d incurred after physically assaulting infamous nuisance streamer Johnny Somali.
Johnny Somali is a name that’s become synonymous with influencers who exhibit bad behavior while making content abroad.
After getting into legal trouble in Japan and Israel, Somali traveled to South Korea in 2024, where he quickly racked up an ever-growing collection of criminal charges for violations like disrupting local businesses, creating a deepfake of a Korean streamer to make it seem like she was kissing him, and even behaving inappropriately with the Statue of Peace, a monument to victims of sexual slavery by Japanese forces in WWII.
In retaliation, a former South Korean Navy SEAL and YouTuber named Dalgeun Yu tracked down Somali and hit him with a single punch to the head before being pulled away, saying he “just did what I had to do as a Korean citizen.”
As a result, Yu was hit with a 10 million won fine (equal to about $7,000 USD) — but a good Samaritan came to the rescue so he didn’t have to empty his pockets.
Yu had already crowdfunded $3K from sympathetic viewers when, on April 30, 2025, YouTuber Donut Operator revealed that he’d paid the remainder of Yu’s $7K fine, sharing a PayPal screenshot of a $4K transaction to the former SEAL.
A day later, Yu published a thank-you message to Donut Operator in a YouTube community post, revealing that he’d been given four additional legal punishments on top of his fine for punching Somali.
South Korean SEAL is still facing additional charges for Johnny Somali assault
Yu claimed that Somali is attempting to extort money from him by filing civil lawsuits against him — but is able to live a life of “gratitude” thanks to everyone’s generosity.
“Thank you very much, Donut Operator,” Yu wrote. “I respect him and thank you very much for helping me. …I have about four more punishments for intimidation and stalking. They also aim to extort money from me by filing additional civil suits, and now Somali and Hank have no money.
“I am also living a life of gratitude to everyone who helped me after the Somali assault, and I am also living a life of helping others. Thanks to you, I have been able to grow to this point and I am always living a life of gratitude every day. Thank you again Donut Operator, and thank you to all the Koreans who helped me.”
Somali has made similar claims in various posts on X, sharing screenshots of messages allegedly from the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office in Korea and accusing Yu of being a “coward” who “sucker punch[ed] me in the back of the head for clout.”
For now, Somali is awaiting his second court date on May 16, 2025, after showing up late, hungover, and wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat to his initial hearing in March.
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