Michael Joseph Branham, an alleged stalker of actress Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow”), was arrested in New York City on April 2nd. Police were alerted to him making threats indicating he would explode “a bomb in Saturday Night Live audience.”
Branham targeted the SNL studio since Johansson’s husband, Colin Jost, is a writer/actor on the long-running sketch comedy series.
He allegedly made the threat by sending a message to the online university he attends. “THE NEXT TIME YOU HERE [sic] FROM ME I WILL BE ON CNN FOR EXPLODING A BOMB IN SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE AUDIENCE,” it reads. A college administrator was disturbed by the message and immediately notified the police. Despite the police initially not finding the threat credible, he was picked up soon after.
Branham was arraigned on April 3rd in Manhattan and is being held on a $100,000 cash or $300,000 bond. His assigned public defender, Jamie Alexander Niskanen-Singer, seems like she is preparing to argue he was set up.
“He has given out information,” Niskanen-Singer told the judge. “He may have been hacked, your honor. It’s very possible here that there is someone that is setting him up.”
However, criminal Judge Janet McDonnell wasn’t sold on that defense and denied the motion to have the bond lowered. “Let’s remember why we’re here,” said McDonnell. “We’re here because he threatened to bomb ‘Saturday Night Live,’ which is a violent bail-qualifying offense.” The judge also granted a protective order for Johansson and Jost.
A History of Harassing Johansson
One of the biggest issues with this case is that this isn’t Branham’s first time supposedly harassing Johansson. The actress claims he has been bothering her since as early as 2022.
In 2023, he reportedly showed up at her home claiming to be the father of her 3-year-old child with Jost. Johansson filed for a restraining order in 2024 stating that Branham “believes that he is the father of my son, which is completely false.” Her request was denied and, like most situations like this, the accused stalker didn’t just go away.
But this behavior isn’t limited to meatspace. In December 2023, he posted on social media claiming to be engaged to Johansson and celebrating a car she bought him. His feed on X (formally Twitter) almost exclusively tags and re-posts things about her.
Branham is charged with making a threat of mass harm and falsely reporting an incident. He is slated to appear in court on April 8th. We’ll keep you posted on updates about that case as they develop.
While the staff here at NerdBot certainly have our fandoms, we must reiterate that NOTHING is worth yours’ or others’ lives and safety.
