AceShowbiz - A man accused of stalking Donald Trump's pregnant daughter Ivanka Trump has denied deliberately tormenting her - insisting he only contacted her as "a joke".

Justin Massler was jailed in Los Angeles on Friday, February 11 after a warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to attend a New York court hearing on six charges, including stalking in the third degree. He is accused of bombarding Trump and her husband Jared Kushner with emails earlier this month, violating an order to stay away from the family until 2012. But in an interview with the New York Daily News, Massler is adamant his behaviour was loaded with irony and was merely "performance art".

He tells the publication, "I would never hurt anyone. I was just bored, writing random stuff on the Internet. I'm not interested in ever seeing her again... I said they'll never capture me alive and mentioned a hero destiny squad, but it wasn't threatening, just me being bored. I would have left them alone, but I was p**sed about the warrant... I was hitting on her ironically. It was a joke. She's a spoiled rich kid. I told Jared it was performance art, but they took that out of the court documents."