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A man has been arrested after allegedly threatening to bomb the Saturday Night Live studios. The NYPD identified the suspect as Michael Branham, 48, whose name, including first, middle, and last, as well as age, matches that of a man previously accused of stalking actress Scarlett Johansson.
Branham reportedly sent the threat to a Connecticut college official, prompting the report to authorities. Law enforcement sources have confirmed that the threat was not deemed credible.
Branham was taken into custody on April 2 and charged with one count each of making a threat of mass harm and falsely reporting an incident. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was granted bail set at $100,000 cash or $300,000 bond. An order of protection was also issued. The alleged bomb threat targeted the Saturday Night Live studios at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City.
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Branham sent the text allegedly threatening to bomb Saturday Night Live
According to NBC News (April 4), Michael Branham allegedly sent the Saturday Night Live bomb threat via text to a university administrator in Connecticut. The message read:
“THE NEXT TIME YOU HERE FROM ME I WILL BE ON CNN FOR EXPLODING A BOMB IN SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE AUDIENCE.”
Police said that the university reported the message, leading to Branham’s arrest the following day by the NYPD. The New York Police Department confirmed the arrest in a statement shared with PEOPLE (April 5), saying that a bomb threat for Saturday Night Live was reported in the Midtown North Precinct around 7 a.m. on April 1.
Following an investigation, Branham was arrested and charged. His arraignment took place on April 3, where he pleaded not guilty.
Court records show Branham was charged with one count of falsely reporting an incident and one count of making a threat of mass harm. The district attorney’s office said an order of protection was granted to Johansson and Jost during the court proceedings.
Law enforcement officials told NBC News that the threat was not considered credible after evaluation. Still, the nature of the message and the identity of the suspect prompted significant concern due to Branham’s past connections to Johansson.
The identity matches the person Johansson accused of stalking
Court documents filed in California show that Branham’s full name and age match the identity of a man whom Scarlett Johansson had previously accused of stalking. Johansson had sought a restraining order against Branham, but the request was denied due to a technical issue.
A representative for Scarlett Johansson declined to comment on the recent arrest. Johansson, who is married to Saturday Night Live cast member and staff writer Colin Jost, had reportedly been the subject of repeated and continued social media posts from a person using Branham’s name.
Social media activity reviewed by NBC News showed references to Johansson from an account bearing Branham’s information. The repeated behavior was a factor in the original restraining order request filed in California.
Suspect’s attorney questions credibility of evidence
Branham’s attorney, Jamie Niskanen-Singer, addressed the court during the arraignment, requesting that bail be reduced. Niskanen-Singer told the court that Branham had been a victim of internet scams in the past by individuals pretending to be Johansson.
“He has given out information. He may have been hacked, your honor. It’s very possible here that there is someone that is setting him up,”
Niskanen-Singer said, according to the New York Post (dated April 3). The attorney also suggested that online scammers could have obtained personal data from Branham and used it to send the threatening message without his knowledge or consent. No further information was provided by Branham’s legal team, and additional requests for comment have not been answered as of April 5.
NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and Saturday Night Live, declined to comment on the incident.
