'Liver King' arrested in Austin after allegedly threatening Joe Rogan

AUSTIN, Texas - Social media influencer Brian Johnson, who is better known as "Liver King" online, was arrested in Austin on Tuesday after posting threatening messages directed towards podcaster Joe Rogan.

Liver King arrested

What we know:

Travis County court records show Johnson, 47, was charged with making a terroristic threat, which is a class B misdemeanor.

He posted multiple videos to Instagram challenging Austin-based podcaster Joe Rogan to fights on Monday.

"Joe Rogan, I’m calling you out. My name’s Liver King. Man to man, I’m picking a fight with you," he said. "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 this video, Johnson is seen shirtless, wearing an animal-fur headdress and holding what appear to be two short-barrel AR-15-style rifles plated in gold.

"You never come across something like this, willing to die, hoping that you’ll choke me out because that’s a dream come true," Johnson said in another post.

Austin police say they became aware of the videos on Tuesday and that Instagram posts revealed that Johnson was traveling to Austin.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by FOX 7, a later video posted by Johnson after he arrived in Austin reportedly showed him saying, "Just pulled up to the capital of Texas, guess what, your dead [sic]."

Rogan told police he had never had an interaction with Johnson and considered the posts threatening.

On Tuesday, a post on the Liver King Instagram account shows Johnson in handcuffs being placed in the back of a police car by officers at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin.

Austin Police say it remains an active investigation.

Rogan has mocked Johnson in the past, claiming that he does not use steroids. The duo's disputes were featured on Netflix's documentary "Untold: The Liver King."

What's next:

Bond has been set at $20,000 with multiple conditions, including:

• No contact and requirement to stay 200 yards away from Rogan and his family members, including their homes and places of business
• No possession of firearms
• Wearing of an ankle monitor
• Mental health supervision and a mental health evaluation within one week of release

Attorney reacts

What they're saying:

"It is very bizarre, and it’s very menacing conduct, to be sure. The question is, does it violate Texas law?" said Jeremy Rosenthal, a Dallas-based criminal defense attorney.

Jeremy Rosenthal says making a legally defined imminent threat over social media can be difficult.

"An imminent threat is typically considered a gun in your face or a knife to your belly or something like that or a statement that says I'm going to do this to you "and have two people being in the same room and have their body language sort of convey that this is about to happen," said Rosenthal.

"Under Texas law, our statutes, the one that he got arrested for, require what's called an imminent threat, which is essentially in your face that is about to happen right then and there is that's typically how it's construed. Which means that over a social media platform, it's difficult to sort of charge somebody with that," said Rosenthal.

"They did charge him with the terroristic threat, even though it was over a social media platform. So obviously, law enforcement felt like the threat was still imminent, even though it was over social media. And that's what's extraordinary in this," said Rosenthal.

Liver King 

The backstory:

Liver King has more than 6 million followers on TikTok, nearly 3 million Instagram followers and more than 1 million subscribers on YouTube.

Johnson gained his following by sharing his "ancestral lifestyle" which involves eating raw meat.

AustinCrime and Public Safety