A man has been arrested for allegedly threatening to bomb the “Saturday Night Live” studios after he messaged the threat to a Connecticut college and an administrator at that college told police, two people briefed on the matter tell NBC News.
New York Police identified the man arrested as Michael Branham, 48, who was taken into custody by the NYPD and charged after the threat was discovered on Tuesday, according to a NYPD statement.
The threat was not deemed credible, two law enforcement officials say.
Court documents seen by NBC News show that Branham was charged with one count of falsely reporting an incident and one threat of making a threat of mass harm. He was arraigned in court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty. His bail was set at $100,000.
Branham’s first, middle, last name, and age matches that of the person whom Scarlett Johansson has previously accused of stalking in an application for a restraining order, according to court documents filed in California.
Those documents show that a judge denied the request for a restraining order on a technicality. A representative for Johansson declined to comment.
A review of social media shows that a person with Branham’s name has made repeated and continuous posts about the actress who is married to SNL Weekend Update host Colin Jost.
The New York Post first reported the threat.
Requests for comment from the attorney representing the man charged in New York was not immediately returned.
NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, declined to comment.
Patrick Smith contributed.
