New body cam footage shows Lovely Peaches abused dog “for followers”

New body cam footage from the night Instagram influencer Brittany ‘Lovely Peaches’ Johnson was confronted by police for threatening her dog shows her explaining that she abused the animal “for followers.”

As one of the more controversial figures on Instagram, Johnson’s videos of her threatening and ‘joking’ to harm her six-month old puppy, Max, have been a point of contention with animal rights advocates and concerned viewers. Following alarms and notifications to authorities, the online personality was arrested in January on charges of animal cruelty but has since bonded out of jail. But footage from the night officers took Max has surfaced showing how Johnson, 20, answered questions from the officers. The video, acquired by Insider, gives people a view inside of the Dekalb County Police’s initial appearance to Johnson’s door which showed a small motel room with her and the dog.

In questioning the embattled Instagram star, officers discovered that threats made to Max by Johnson was all “for followers” to grow her main Instagram page that has roughly 146,000 members. “I said I was going to throw him out the window,” Johnson answered the police. These were the kind of things she believed would incite reactions enough that people would follow her on Instagram. She soon followed up with saying that she had no intention of going through with the things she threatened to do in her posts.

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When asked if she even wanted Max, she quickly replied with: “I mean, I might give it to my dad.” According to the officers on the scene that night, the dog was visibly “scared to death.”

“Yeah, but I make jokes all the time, so if anybody makes jokes–” Johnson said before being cut off by the officer who told her, “That’s not funny. You’re talking about harming a puppy.”

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Johnson said the threats were repeatedly made “cause I knew it would get me attention on the internet.” She said her ultimate goal was to build up a large enough following to one day sign with a label to take care of her family. She told officers that she makes about $1,000 per week from sponsors. The Dekalb County Police Department told TooFab that Max was taken into custody by animal services.