Man Accused Of Stalking Scarlett Johansson Arrested Following SNL Bomb Scare
Scarlett Johansson's alleged stalker, Michael Joseph Branham, was arrested for making a bomb threat targeting the SNL studio. Branham, who has "Scarlett" tattooed on his torso, faces felony charges.
Scarlett Johansson’s alleged stalker has been arrested after reportedly making a bomb threat targeting the Saturday Night Live studio — the very place where her husband, Colin Jost, works as a writer and Weekend Update co-host. According to court documents and law enforcement sources, the alarming threat set off serious concerns before the suspect was taken into custody.
The man arrested in connection with the bomb threat against Saturday Night Live has been identified as Michael Joseph Branham, a 48-year-old who reportedly has the name “Scarlett" tattooed inside a heart on his torso.
related stories
Branham was taken into custody in Manhattan on Wednesday after allegedly sending a string of threatening text messages. According to the criminal complaint, one of those messages chillingly read:
“THE NEXT TIME YOU HERE [sic] FROM ME I WILL BE ON CNN FOR EXPLODING A BOMB IN SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE AUDIENCE."
According to police sources, the bomb threat first came to light when a global security investigator for NBC Universal and 30 Rock flagged the disturbing messages and reported them to the Midtown North Precinct on Tuesday.
Michael Joseph Branham — who already had four outstanding warrants in Kentucky — was arrested in NYC shortly after. Prosecutors allege the threat was driven by a deeply personal and obsessive fixation on Scarlett Johansson.
He was brought before Manhattan criminal court on Thursday, where he faced felony charges including false reporting and making a threat of mass harm. The judge set bail at $100,000 cash or $300,000 bond.
The man at the center of the chaos, Michael Joseph Branham, reportedly has a troubling digital footprint. A father of two daughters (aged 18 and 5), he had an erratic and delusional presence on X (formerly Twitter), where he bizarrely claimed Scarlett Johansson was his “fiancée."
In one of his more unsettling posts from November 2023, he wrote, “Don’t worry about anything #SCARLETTINGRIDJOHANSSON I still have not cheated on you no matter what the brain interface people tell you in the air waves!!! I love you honey I’m waiting for you still in Hollywood."
At the arraignment, Michael Joseph Branham’s public defender, Jamie Niskanen-Singer of Legal Aid, tried to shift the narrative, suggesting that his client may have been duped by online scammers pretending to be Scarlett Johansson. According to The New York Post, Niskanen-Singer argued that Branham had previously fallen for impersonation scams and that the threatening text might not have even come from him.
“He may have been hacked, your honor. It’s very possible that someone is setting him up," the lawyer said, also pointing out that Branham has no prior history involving weapons.
But Judge Janet McDonnell wasn’t buying it. “Let’s remember why we’re here," she said firmly. “We’re here because he threatened to bomb Saturday Night Live, which is a violent bail-qualifying offense."
Despite the defense’s objections, McDonnell granted orders of protection for both Scarlett Johansson and her husband Colin Jost, citing the seriousness of the threat.
- Location :
- First Published: