Jonathan Majors has been found guilty on charges that he attacked his ex-girlfriend in March 2023.
According to Reuters, the 34-year actor was convicted by a New York jury of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment. He was found not guilty of intentional assault in the third degree and not guilty of aggravated harassment in second degree.
Majors will be sentenced on February 6th, 2024. He faces up to a year in prison.
The trial was the result of the Marvel actor’s arrest on assault, strangulation, and harassment charges, which occurred in New York this past March after a woman was admitted to the hospital with minor injuries and reported to the NYPD that he had assaulted her. The woman was later revealed to be his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, who described Majors as controlling, manipulative, and violent while testifying during the trial.
In evidence released over the course of the trial, Majors’ behavior towards Jabbari painted him in a very unflattering picture. In one text exchange, Majors insisted that Jabbari not go to the hospital after suffering a head injury, writing that she had “no perspective of what could happen if [she went] to the hospital,” and that “even if [she did] lie,” it could “lead to an investigation.”
Photos and video were also released, some of which revealed that Jabbari had suffered minor injuries, such as a gash behind her ear and bruising on her hand. In one video, the couple are seen arguing in the streets of New York, with Majors forcefully attempting to push Jabbari into a vehicle, and then Jabbari chasing him across several blocks before tearfully asking strangers to help arrange an Uber home. The supposed cause of the argument was Jabbari’s discovery that Majors had been unfaithful.
Another piece of evidence released was an audio recording of Majors berating Jabbari for coming “home drunk.” In it, he calls himself a “great man,” and lectures Jabbari that she “has to be in a certain mindset to support” him. “Coretta Scott King, do you know who that is?” he said. “That’s Martin Luther King’s wife. Michelle Obama, Barack Obama’s wife… My temper, my shit, all that said: I’m a great man. A great man.”
Jabbari isn’t alone in reporting Majors’ alleged behavior. In June more than 20 people came forward with allegations of Majors being emotionally and physically abusive, with sources telling Rolling Stone that he had a pattern of aggressive behavior that made others feel “in physical danger around him and certainly in mentally precarious positions because of him.”
As a result of all of this, Majors’ career has been upended. He was dropped by both his talent manager and publicist, several movie projects have given him the boot, and Disney has removed an upcoming film of his, Magazine Dreams, from its release schedule. Majors was also slated to appear in Marvel’s upcoming Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but the film’s release date has been pushed back a year. In a story by Variety, sources revealed that Marvel was considering pivoting towards a “Majors-led phase,” but have since reconsidered, due both to his legal issues and the disappointment around February’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Update: Marvel has dropped Majors and intends to recast the role of Kang.
Throughout the trial, Majors asserted that he was innocent. In various statements and testimonials, both the actor and his defense team claimed that he was a victim of abuse from Jabbari, and that allegations of unprofessional conduct were “downright false.” His defense team only presented their case for one day, but during that time they called three witnesses to the stand, who casted doubt on the prosecution’s case.
The defense also attempted to have the trial dismissed for lack of evidence, but that request was rejected. Majors himself did not take the stand.
