Jay Johnston, an actor whose credits include TV work on Arrested Development, Bob’s Burgers, and Mr. Show, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with felony obstruction of officers in connection to the Jan. 6 insurrection targeting the United States Capitol, NBC News reports.
According to court documents obtained by NBC News, body-camera footage reviewed by the FBI reveals that Johnston was part of a crowd of rioters that confronted officers at the West Plaza of the Capitol on Jan 6.
CCTV footage also captured Johnston “handing up a stolen U.S. Capitol police shield to other rioters,” the documents state.
ADVERTISEMENT
Johnston is also being charged with several misdemeanors connected to the riots, including knowingly entering a restricted building unlawfully, as well as impeding passage through, or within, Capitol grounds or any Capitol buildings.
Lucas Astrom, the director of Wing Dad, told The Daily Beast in December of 2021 that he had reached out to Johnston following the riots.
“[Johnston] said he was just at the protest and didn’t go into the Capitol physically, so I have to take him at his word on that,” Astrom told The Daily Beast. “He hasn’t been convicted or served or arrested. But yeah, I asked him about it, and he said like, yeah, he was there, and he believed there was fraud and just wanted to show his support.”
Johnston was first named as an alleged rioter by eagle-eyed internet detectives in March of 2021, after the FBI tweeted images appearing to show the actor, camouflaging his face with a scarf, among other insurrectionists storming the Capitol.
After 11 seasons of providing the voice for his Bob’s Burgers character, Jimmy Pesto Sr., Johnston was blacklisted from the show, preventing his return, sources told The Daily Beast in December 2021.
According to court documents, the FBI reviewed text messages from Johnston to an associate in which the actor acknowledged his presence at the riots: “The news has presented it as an attack. It actually wasn’t. Thought it kind of turned into that. It was a mess. Got maced and tear gassed and I found it quite untastic.”
