The "Liver King," Brian Johnson, has found himself entangled in a real-life legal saga. Johnson, who became the focal point of Netflix's documentary "Untold: The Liver King," was apprehended in Texas on June 24th after issuing threats towards Joe Rogan via Instagram, confirmed the Austin Police Department to E! News.
According to law enforcement officials, detectives received notifications alerting them to Johnson's "threatening statements" aimed at Rogan. Upon reviewing the posts, they noticed that "Johnson was en route to Austin while continuing to issue such threats." Rogan, upon being contacted by the police, clarified that he had never interacted with Johnson before and deemed the posts threatening.
"Based on this information," police shared, "detectives secured an arrest warrant for Johnson, charging him with Terroristic Threat." Johnson was taken into custody later that day outside an Austin hotel "without incident," police verified. The charge of terroristic threat is categorized as a Class B misdemeanor, according to authorities.
The police added, "This remains an ongoing investigation, and no further details are available at this moment."
Prior to his arrest, Johnson, who has garnered millions of online followers by advocating a raw meat lifestyle, had posted Instagram videos tagging Rogan. In a June 23rd video, he declared, "Joe Rogan, I'm calling you out. My name is Liver King. Man to man, I'm challenging you to a fight. I have no training in Jiu-jitsu; you're a black belt, you should defeat me easily. But I'm still challenging you. Your rules, I'll come to you, whenever you're ready."
A video uploaded to Johnson's Instagram account on June 24th captured him being handcuffed and placed into a police car by a uniformed officer at the hotel. The YouTuber was attired in red sweatpants, a sweatshirt with the sleeves removed worn underneath a utility vest.
E! News has reached out to Rogan for comment and is attempting to secure legal representation for Johnson.
In Netflix's documentary, released in May, cameras followed Johnson after it was revealed in 2022 that he had used steroids and human growth hormones to enhance his physique, which he had previously denied. Although Johnson had largely adhered to a carnivorous diet in recent years, he shared in the documentary that he was reintroducing vegetables into his diet.
"Vegetables and testicles, I can have it all," he said in "Untold: The Liver King." "I was so convinced that all the carnivore stuff was what you needed to truly excel in life. I'm now convinced that I was starving myself."
"I want the world to know I was wrong," he later conceded, adding that "taking an extreme approach to anything probably isn't going to work out."
