Brian Johnson, an online influencer who calls himself “Liver King,” was arrested Tuesday in Austin after he made “terroristic” threats against popular podcaster Joe Rogan, according to police.
Johnson, 47, is the subject of Netflix’s “Untold: The Liver King” documentary, released in May. According to the streamer’s description of the film, “The Liver King built an online fitness empire by devouring raw meat and promoting an all-natural ancestral lifestyle, with the muscles to back it up. Featuring interviews with the man himself, his family and business partners, this documentary unravels the wild story of The Liver King’s rapid rise to internet fame and the controversy and backlash once a steroid scandal came to light.”
According to the Austin Police Department, on Tuesday, June 24, at approximately 9:30 a.m., detectives were notified that a subject identified as Brian Johnson, aka “Liver King,” had made threats on his Instagram account, which has 2.9 million followers, against Rogan.
“Detectives reviewed the posts and observed that Johnson was traveling to Austin” — where Rogan is based — “while continuing to make threatening statements,” a spokesperson for the police department said in a statement. “Detectives contacted Mr. Rogan, who stated he had never had any interaction with Johnson and considered the posts to be threatening. Based on this information, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Johnson on a charge of Terroristic Threat.”
At approximately 5:59 p.m. Tuesday, APD officers located Johnson at the Four Seasons Hotel Austin and “took him into custody without incident,” the police department spokesperson said. Johnson (shown above right in his police booking photo) was transported to the Travis County Jail and charged with Terroristic Threat, a Class B misdemeanor.
On Monday (June 23), Johnson had posted a video on Instagram threatening Rogan. “Joe Rogan, I’m calling you out, my name’s Liver King,” Johnson said in the video. “Man to man, I’m picking a fight with you. I have no training in jiu-jitsu, you’re a black belt, you should dismantle me. But I’m picking a fight with you. Your rules, I’ll come to you, whenever you’re ready.” In another video he posted Monday, he said, “You never come across something like this, willing to die, hoping that you’ll choke me out, because that’s a dream come true.”
A video was posted to the Liver King Instagram account Tuesday that showed Johnson’s wife, Bozena “Barbara” Johnson, heading to the lobby of the hotel and Johnson handcuffed and being put into a police car. Videos posted on the account just prior to that show Johnson getting dressed in a hotel room, drinking an espresso and filing his nails, presumably as he’s getting ready to surrender to the cops.
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A representative for Rogan didn’t respond to a request for comment. There was no reply to an email seeking comment sent to the contact listed for Johnson’s company.
From Variety US