In the days following Jonathan Majors’ March arrest for domestic violence, rumors swirled within the New York and Yale acting community that there were additional victims. Majors’ lawyer went on the attack, releasing a statement calling his victim emotionally unstable and claiming that the victim recanted her allegations. Then his lawyer released the victim’s text messages, and they were incredibly damning to Majors. Throughout the week, the trade papers have been covering the fact that Majors’ publicist and management team dropped him, and that Majors has also been dropped from several upcoming productions. Plus, he’s not going to the Met Gala. Well, it’s gotten even worse. Variety reports that several additional victims have come forward and they’re talking to the New York DA’s office.
As Jonathan Majors prepares for a May 8 court appearance on domestic violence charges, his PR problems are about to get bigger. Sources familiar with the matter tell Variety that multiple alleged abuse victims of Majors have come forward following his March arrest and are cooperating with the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The prospect of more women waiting in the wings would mark a dramatic turn in the case and comes on the heels of Majors’ publicists and management firm cutting ties with the embattled actor earlier this week. The D.A. declined comment.
“Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone. We have provided irrefutable evidence to the District Attorney that the charges are false. We are confident that he will be fully exonerated,” said Majors’ attorney Priya Chaudhry in a statement.
The “Creed III” star was arrested on March 25 in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on charges of strangulation, assault and harassment. At the time, an NYPD spokesperson said in a statement that a 30-year-old woman told police she had been assaulted by Majors, 33, and that she “sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to an area hospital in stable condition.” But Chaudhry mounted an immediate and aggressive response, insisting that the actor “is provably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows” and suggested the woman was having “an emotional crisis.” A source familiar with the chronology of events says the attorney released the statement while he was still behind bars.
For many who were in business with Majors, the text messages [Majors’ lawyer released] had the opposite effect and raised more questions than they answered, namely why the woman had lost consciousness. “It read like a bad Lifetime movie. They basically look like the text messages of a textbook abused woman,” says one person who is working with Majors on an upcoming project.
In recent months, Majors had become one of Hollywood’s most promising stars, with a series of high-profile and lucrative roles on the horizon. Now, all eyes are on his future with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he is poised to play the titular Kang in “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.” Majors is still attached to star in that film, which is slated to be released on May 2, 2025, and he is poised for a $20 million payday including back-end compensation. He also was signed to star in “Avengers: Secret Wars,” which is slated to debut in 2026. Disney is monitoring the fast-moving situation and has time to move deliberately.
Disney has the added wrinkle in that the alleged victim in the Manhattan incident also worked on this year’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” a film in which Majors was third-billed as Kang the Conqueror. A Disney spokesperson declined comment.
Separately, Majors is stepping down from the board of the Gotham Film and Media Institute and his work with the Sidney Poitier Initiative, which was created to support emerging filmmakers. On Wednesday afternoon, executive director Jeffrey Sharp sent a note to the Gotham board alerting them of the move.
“I think the truth is everyone is waiting to see what Marvel will do,” says an industry insider familiar with the situation. “It doesn’t mean everyone will do the same thing, but that’s what people are looking to.”
While it breaks my heart that there are additional victims, I’m proud of those women for coming forward and telling their stories to the DA’s office. Given the victim’s text messages, I’m not sure she’s in a place where she’s ready to testify about what Majors did to her. The additional victims will at least help with the prosecution. After Variety reported all of this, Majors’ team went to TMZ and claimed all kinds of crazy sh-t about the night in question – they say that the taxi driver will swear up and down that Majors never laid a hand on this poor woman, and that after the taxi drive, the victim went out clubbing. They have blurry photos, apparently. I have no idea, but given that Majors’ team released his victim’s text messages with the belief that they would exonerate him, I’m pretty suspicious of everything coming from his team.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Jonathan Majors attends CREED III – European Premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square in London, England. 15th February 2023. -,Image: 756458961, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NORESTRICTIONS, Model Release: no, Pictured: CREED III – European Premiere, Credit line: James Warren / Bang Showbiz / Avalon
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- Jonathan Majors at Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Premiere at BFI IMAX in London, UK, 16 February 2023,Image: 756608631, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: James Shaw / Avalon
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- Jonathan Majors attends Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – UK Gala Screening at the BFI IMAX in London, England. 16th February 2023. -,Image: 756734157, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NORESTRICTIONS, Model Release: no, Pictured: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – UK Gala Screening, Credit line: JW / Bang Showbiz / Avalon
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- Jonathan Majors attends Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – UK Gala Screening at the BFI IMAX in London, England. 16th February 2023. -,Image: 756734165, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NORESTRICTIONS, Model Release: no, Pictured: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – UK Gala Screening, Credit line: JW / Bang Showbiz / Avalon
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- Jonathan Majors attends Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – UK Gala Screening at the BFI IMAX in London, England. 16th February 2023. -,Image: 756734170, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NORESTRICTIONS, Model Release: no, Pictured: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – UK Gala Screening, Credit line: JW / Bang Showbiz / Avalon
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- Kang the Conqueror Jonathan Majors arrives at the UK Gala Screening of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania at BFI IMAX Waterloo, London, UK on 16 February 2023.,Image: 756771544, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Tina Korhonen / Avalon
I hope that all of his victims have great support systems. This man was really out here terrorizing women.
Ditto!
I’m not even surprised about the DV (I’m a survivor and during recovery I found out that it is far more widespread than believed), I was shocked that as a serial abuser, as he seems to be, didn’t hide it better. Usually people from the outside are completely ignorant of everything going on while it seemed like everybody knew about him? He’s not just a textbook DV abuser, he has a narcissistic disorder on top of that.
And it’s appalling he’s throwing away a career in the pan like this… seriously 🙁
If he does have narcissistic disorder traits he probably assumes he can recover his career later without changing or taking any responsibility
Quantumania was not exactly Marvel’s most-watched or most beloved movie, so I doubt many people care if they change the actor.
They’re lucky they can do this before an Avengers film had come out and he would be established with everyone and their mom as the character.
Never heard of the guy before I saw these reports on Celebitchy.
Agreed. It was a chapter in the current Marvel story arc. By the time the Avengers comes out in 2 years, no one will remember. A bigger problem is that he is in Loki season 2, but I read that it was only one episode. Seems possible that Marvel might decide to refilm his scenes?
He is said to appear in three episodes and his face is present throughout the series. They can’t just cut him out… and it’s to late for reshoots – actors, especially TH, are involved in other projets. In my opinion – they should leave “Loki 2” as it is and recast JM for the next projects. I don’t think the show will suffer because of this… Well, I’ll watch it anyway, dozens of people worked hard on it and it’s not their fault that JM turned out to be an abuser.. and I love Loki 😉
Then I agree with you, Inka. Go forward with Loki 2 and recast the role going foward. I’m a big Loki fan too!
Yeah Marvel needs to get over themselves and kick this guy to the curb. ESPECIALLY if he was abusive to someone who worked on one of their movies?!? (Quantummania apparently?). If I was one of the Disney lawyers I would be yelling, believe me.
The most important thing is that the victims are protected and get Justice of course; but on the purely superficial side? It’s not that big a deal to get rid of him from Marvel. I’m not going to fall into the trap of saying he’s a bad actor just because I now know what I know – he’s a really good actor, I get it.
But as Kang? Meh. He lost a fistfight to Antman and the Wasp. He was a DULL, generic villain…after all that hype. A dozen actors at least could have played that character. Not a big loss.
Marvel could cut him out if they really wanted – they just have to have the will to do it. They replaced Terrance Howard from the first Iron Man movie with Don Cheadle in the subsequent ones without blinking an eye, and that was supposedly about pay demands, nothing criminal.
Yes, Kang is obviously going to be a main part of the next phase of films, but he’s a character with many variants who is also a time traveller. They can get another actor, or maybe several actors, to play the part. It feels like they are trying to see what the public fallout will be and what they can salvage.
there it is…the other shoe has dropped. this is why everyone dropped him. i knew there was more to the story. good! glad to see someone get what they deserve. now we have to see if marvel will cancel their work with him…
Exactly like it happened with Armie Hammer, everyone ran for the hills just before more women came forward.
Good for these survivors coming forward. In cases like this one, there is so much strength in numbers.
Agreed. I hope they have the support they need.
His lawyer’s release of the text messages, plus the doubling down on “the taxi driver will say she went clubbing later” suggest he’s not capable of acknowledging any responsibility here. That (depressingly, not the abuse) is what will tank his career.
I don’t think they realize that these denials push the other survivors to come forward. They don’t want a dude to keep getting away with it. Sad, but it does seem to take the multiple allegations for it to seem real.
Thought a moment and realizing that those studies showing that the majority of rapes are perpetrated by a small number of people mean that this is true. There are far more victims of sexual assault than there are perpetrators. We need to become serious about dealing with them. This is why high schools and colleges covering up sexual assault should be criminal. It’s where the pattern begins and they have the resources to see and stop it. Yale knew. Juilliard knew.
Gotta love the insane “proof” they pull out. “She went clubbing”. AND? She isn’t on trial. HE is. Maybe she did go clubbing, maybe she had friends there and wanted to be around them, maybe she wasn’t sure WHERE to go and a crowded club felt safe to her, maybe she was disassociating and trying to convince herself everything was fine. WTF does where SHE went after being choked have to do with anything? I am so sick of victims being blamed for their abuse.
I hate that he is an abuser. I thought he was excellent in Lovecraft Country and was happy to see his career taking off. Then I see this and it makes me feel dirty. I like tv and movies and we constantly see so many pieces of human garbage becoming rich in that industry.
Agreed. Hopefully all of his victims, especially the most recent one, have some kind of protection around them.
Some people have rightfully been pointing out the fact that Jonathan Majors is facing harsher consequences for his behavior than Ezra Miller, an abuser who benefits from white privilege. For the most part, liberal people are being mature and empathetic to those pointing out a double standard, no rightwing hazing tactics. Many are also rightfully being careful about how they identify Ezra Miller, despite their crimes. That’s good, and the same principles should apply in discussions about female wrongdoers. Too often when a woman has done anything wrong everything is fair game, and not pointing out any misogyny involved becomes a sort of litmus test for women.
The moment I read he choked the March victim I knew he had a previous pattern of abuse. I’m not surprised other women are coming forward. I hope they have love and support to get them through this.
@blue 100% on history and 100% on support for the victims.
You don’t leap to public choking unless you’re confident you’ll get away with it. I disagree with a lot of Judge Judy’s opinions but the one where she said when people get away with a crime or it’s downplayed to zero repercussions they just get more confident to keep doing it is so true.
Some judges (worldwide) letting rapists go with little to no punishment could do with being made to watch that clip on repeat until it sinks in.
As a rape and abuse victim, all I want is the perpetrators to be accountable and the victims supported. I was so excited for JM. A young, very talented black actor. He seemed amazing and just what we all needed. . I’m beyond words. Tbh.
Apparently NY and Yale acting circles knew of his hot temper and abusive behavior. Disney and Marvel sink millions into their budgets, how hard would it be to have a PI vet these actors before? I’m not saying it would prevent abusers from being casted every time but in Majors case is probably would.
Between Jonathan Majors and Ezra Miller, I gotta think they’re going to start seriously vetting these actors going forward. There’s too much money on the line for these issues to keep popping up and it isn’t like the Old Hollywood days where these things can be kept quiet forever. The studios having billions of dollars riding on certain actors have to be more careful who they do business with.
I don’t think the problems as apparent when Ezra Miller was hired by DC & Warner Brothers. I’m not saying there were no problems at all, but Ezra didn’t really go off the rails or exhibit their awful behavior until after they were already doing Justice League.
No idea what happened with Marvel and Jonathan Majors since this was an open secret or a well known thing in acting communities already? But it’s also sad that no one came forward or that no stories got any attention until the most recent incident. It’s sad it had to come to that.
I wonder though — particularly since there are not as many immediate and long-term protections for the victims of abuse, as most of us would like to see. Vetting will, of course, find the on-the-record accusations and legal actions. I’m troubled, though, by the possibility that a thorough vetting by entities like Disney and Marvel might also out the identities of victims of abuse who are already struggling, and cause them not only more pain, but possibly ruin their future careers in an industry that’s already tough.
I genuinely don’t know what the answers are. It’s already hard to expect a victim to go on record and to accept all that might come from that — to protect potential future victims. It’s more difficult for me to hope that entities with the powers and resources of wealthy corporations get to spearhead this process to protect their bottom lines. How do we get to a place where identifying known abusers doesn’t also bring down more pain for the people they’ve abused — particularly if those people don’t come forward freely? I’m heartened to learn that in this case, more people are coming forward.
I didn’t mean publicly outing abusers and victims, I just meant I can’t understand how these huge companies don’t do background character checks when they’re sinking so much money into these projects.
Like Frippery says (and I was thinking the same when I wrote the original comment ) a background check maybe wouldn’t have stopped Ezra’s casting because their cult kidnappings happened later (they had also assaulted a women in a bar, but I don’t remember when that happened).
With Majors it was apparently an open secret, they just had to ask around about his character without outing any victims.
What they need to do is hire serious background checkers like what the government uses – given the amount of money on the line. Most large corporations already do this. My husband works for FEMA which is under Homeland Security – the background check was wild – they were calling neighbors and acquaintances of his from over 20 years ago – it was next level – if he had any red flags – he wouldn’t have been hired. Similar checks are in place for getting a TWIC card (which you have to have when you work at a chemical plant – which I do). There are things they can do – if they want to take the time to do it. It will save them money in the long run – I would predict.
Blithe, You bring up a really good point: how do you vet someone (especially when your the person has a history of violence and has never been charged) and keep victims safe and anonymous? Especially if going forward an abuser knows he will be vetted? And how do you protect victims from more pain, trauma, and potential consequences of outing someone as violent? Those are good questions.
Yep, there it is. You don’t go from zero to choking someone, that’s not a thing. I think at this point it’s important to let it play out in court. Where he seems to belong at the very least. His lawyer seems … aggressive and confident. Weird.
FWIW, I think his lawyer (Priya Choudhry) is the same person who represented Real Housewife of Salt Lake City and professional criminal Jenn Shah. Jenn Shah swore that she was innocent all the way up until she pled guilty at the eleventh hour before her trial. Liars gonna lie and abusers gonna abuse.
Well, so much for my theory that his crisis team was going to pull this one out of the fire. What a ridiculous waste of so much effort and potential, more importantly, what a freaking tragedy that this guy was running around abusing women for years. It is not too late to replace him; he’s a name, but not a NAME. I have hope for the victims to get justice and peace of mind. It must be so awful to be traumatized like that and then see your abuser’s face on media everywhere. I can’t even imagine.
Ezra Miller is being “rehabilitated” by a studio, which is interested in its bottom line AND his mother. EM is a violent groomer who should be kept far away from children, teens, women and a job which allows him to make lots of money and endear himself with millions. Brad Pitt has a powerful industry AND famous women like Goop and Jennifer Aniston supporting him. Depp is a violent disaster who also has his famous exes publicly supporting him. (Armie Hammer was a bit too violent and women weren’t rehabbing his image. Weinstein, same problem as Hammer…) JM has a female lawyer. Having a woman who will speak positively about you seems to be a theme in successfully helping your image.
After an abuser has support from a woman he uses her reputation-boosting potential to attack his victim(s). For example, Winona, Kate, and Vanessa were successfully employed to counter Amber’s experience with Johnny. Lots of women who have suffered violence from men say that when they come forward, they feel violated by the aftermath. The latest victim of JM is being put under this pressure: instead of dealing in facts, JM and his lawyer are out there destroying the victim’s reputation on gossip sites. I’m very worried for her, the other women who have come forward and anyone else in a similar situation.