A man accused of stalking Scarlett Johansson was arrained in Manhattan criminal court Thursday night for threatening to bomb Saturday Night Live‘s NBC studio.
As first reported by The New York Post, Michael Joseph Branham was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly sent a threatening text message through a platform connected to the online university he attends.
Authorities say Branham wrote, “THE NEXT TIME YOU HERE [sic] FROM ME I WILL BE ON CNN FOR EXPLODING A BOMB IN SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE AUDIENCE.”
The Post reports that the text was reported to the NYPD earlier this week by a security investigator for NBCUniversal and 30 Rock, which led to Branham’s arrest.
He was arraigned on felony charges and ordered held on $100,000 cash or $300,000 bond bail.
Branham’s court-appointed attorney said his client denied sending the threatening message, suggesting that he had been hacked and asked that his bail be lowered.
Judge Janet McDonnell rejected Branham’s attorney’s request and issued orders of protection for both Johansson and her husband Colin Jost, who co-anchors SNL‘s “Weekend Update.”
“Let’s remember why we’re here,” the judge is reported to have responded. “We’re here because he threatened to bomb Saturday Night Live, which is a violent bail-qualifying offense.”
As part of a 2024 petition for a restraining order against Branham, Johansson stated that Branham began targeting her in August 2022, showing up at her Los Angeles home multiple times and once trailing her neighbors’ car for over 30 miles because he mistook her for Johansson.
In a Facebook account alleged to belong to Branham, the 48 year-old describes himself as Scarlett Johansson’s fiance and claims to be the biological father of her young son, born in 2001. Photos show him sporting a tattoo with the name Scarlett on his chest, and a gun with multiple rounds of bullets.
The prosecution must be so thankful for facebook right now.