The man accused of stalking movie star Scarlett Johansson, and threatening to blow up the “Saturday Night Live” set where her husband Colin Jost works, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday where he was ordered to undergo psychological testing.
Michael Joseph Branham, 48, was taken into custody in Manhattan last week after he allegedly sent text messages saying he planned to detonate a bomb in the Midtown studio where the NBC sketch program airs live on weekends.
Law enforcement said the threat was not deemed credible, according to NBC News.
Branham was arraigned on Thursday, where he pleaded not guilty to falsely reporting an incident and making a threat of mass harm. His bail was set at $100,000.
He appeared again in court on Tuesday, where a judge ordered Branham to undergo a mental examination before another court date later this month.
His public defender suggested last week that a scammer could be responsible for the bomb threat, alleging that Branham had previously been scammed by people posing as Johansson online, according to E! News.
Johansson, 40, filed a restraining order against a man fitting Branham’s description in November 2023, according to The Blast. The “Black Widow” star said he had been harassing her for more than a year at that point, repeatedly loitering outside her California home and claiming to have fathered one of her two kids.
However, five months later, Johansson’s request for the restraining order was forced to be dismissed after the papers were unable to be served to her alleged stalker.
Johansson has been married to Jost since October 2020. Together they share 3-year-old son Cosmo. Johansson also has 10-year-old daughter Rose with ex-husband Romain Dauriac.
