Benjamin Azariah Southworth, a 40-year-old Los Angeles podcaster, was arrested at his Westlake apartment on the morning of September 3 after a federal grand jury indicted him on three counts: threats against the president, cyberstalking, and harassing telephone calls in interstate communications. Federal agents took him into custody at the residence.
Southworth formerly hosted the Christian reality and music television program “The Remix” on TBN. In recent years he co-hosted the comedy podcast “Yass, Jesus!” and operated the website holymenace.com, where he sold stickers bearing the phrase “kill trump” and described himself as an “artivist.”
Prosecutors have alleged that from January through May 2026 he used that website along with Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and other accounts to express hatred and threats toward President Donald Trump and Trump’s supporters.
According to court documents, Southworth sent private text messages in January stating, “If I encounter any Trump official in-person, I’m seriously afraid I will end up in Jail,” and “But if I could Kill him, I wouldn’t waste the opportunity.” In the same exchange he wrote, “I want to funnel this rage into street art. That’s my plan. But GOD I want that mother****er and his minions dead.”
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Feds bust podcaster Azariah Southworth in Los Angeles for allegedly threatening to kill Donald Trump https://t.co/Cx6DJJlTzM pic.twitter.com/cGqGC6lVfA
— New York Post (@nypost) September 3, 2026
On or about January 2026 he posted on TikTok the home address of Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow, together with photographs of the residencealongside the caption “No peace for traitors.” From January to May 2026 he left abusive online messages and voicemails for Sekulow’s son and placed harassing interstate telephone calls to Sekulow’s wife.
Prosecutors said he called the family at least 13 times. In one voicemail he stated, “There’s going to come a day when justice comes to your door.” In February he posted the personal telephone numbers of Sekulow’s son and family members with the message, “Do you want to spice up your love life this Valentine’s Day? Then call one of these numbers and let these people know they are pieces of sh**.”
On March 31, 2026, after a Supreme Court ruling on conversion-therapy restrictions, Southworth posted a threatening video on the Holy Menace Instagram account. “Since the [United States] Supreme Court has ruled today that psychological, spiritual, emotional and physical torture known as gay conversion therapy is free speech, I want to practice my free speech as a survivor of conversion therapy for five years,” he said. “Kill Donald Trump. Kill that mother****ing pedophile in the White House. Kill that traitor of the United States Constitution. That’s all.”
On April 7 he posted another Instagram video containing the statements “I have been vocal in calling for the execution of Donald Trump” and “This government is illegitimate and out of control. It’s time for course correction. Kill Donald Trump.” He also posted a video depicting himself teleporting into the White House and raising a knife behind Trump.
Additional court documents state that he later described some of the language as “just rhetoric.” In a separate video prepared in the event of his arrest he repeated, “I have been vocal in calling for the execution of Donald Trump” and “It’s time for course correction. Kill Donald Trump.”
Prosecutors also alleged that he posted “IF AT FIRST YOU FAIL TRY AGAIN” on a livestream associated with Sekulow’s son after an April incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
As agents led him from his apartment, Southworth shouted, “Donald Trump is a pedophile! The country has fallen!” and made additional remarks about “Christian nationalists” and the Epstein files, according to a report from the New York Post.
“As threats against President Trump’s life escalate, the Department of Justice will respond with the full force of the law. We will hold perpetrators of violent threats accountable, and anyone who makes these threats online will not be allowed to hide behind their screens,” said U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
