Jonathan Majors makes virtual court appearance in domestic dispute case
“Creed III” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” actor Jonathan Majors appeared in court virtually Tuesday in relation to domestic violence charges filed against him.
Majors, 33, was arrested March 25 in New York City and charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment following a “domestic dispute” with a 30-year-old woman.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, New York Criminal Court Judge Rachel S. Pauley on Tuesday informed the actor that he must continue to abide by a full stay-away protection order that had been granted temporarily to the woman after the alleged incident. The order includes no contact with the alleged victim, who said the Marvel star struck her “about the face with an open hand, causing substantial pain and a laceration behind her ear,” said the complaint filed by the Manhattan district attorney. The woman sustained minor injuries during the alleged dispute and was taken to a local hospital.
Majors appeared on a TV screen in court Tuesday wearing a beige dress shirt and did not speak other than responding to the judge, THR said. He is due back in court in person on June 13.
Variety reported that Pauley also discussed a motion filed by Majors’ defense team that the prosecution has until May 23 to respond to. His defense team will then have until May 31 to respond.
The woman who accused actor Jonathan Majors of assault in late March was granted a full temporary order of protection Thursday by a New York judge.
While the charges against the actor remain the same, new language in the complaint indicates that the woman also allegedly sustained a right-arm injury and was pushed into a car by Majors, THR said. However, the complaint no longer includes reports of bruising and injury to the neck as it had before.
After the hearing, Majors’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry, accused the district attorney of case-fixing and referred to the legal dispute as “a witch hunt” against Majors that “highlights the racial bias that permeates the criminal justice system.”
“[T]his false case continues, the woman’s claimed location shifts, and her story morphs. This is a witch hunt against Jonathan Majors, driven by baseless claims,” Chaudhry said in a statement to The Times. “Instead of dismissing the allegations in the face of the woman’s clear lies, the DA has adjusted the charges to match the woman’s new lies. To be clear, there are no new charges against Mr. Majors.”
Chaudhry said that the defense team has obtained “even more video evidence of his innocence” but is hesitant to share it “for fear the DA will tip the woman off to change her story again.”
In the days following his March arrest, Chaudhry claimed to have obtained written statements from the woman recanting her initial allegations and shared unverified screenshots of text messages with TMZ that the woman allegedly sent to Majors after his arrest. On April 19, Chaudhry filed video evidence purportedly showing the alleged victim unharmed in the hours after the dispute.
In a statement released shortly after the arrest, Chaudhry claimed that the woman “was having an emotional crisis, for which she was taken to a hospital,” and that Majors “did not assault her whatsoever.”
A rising Hollywood darling who broke out with the 2019 Sundance award winner “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” and received an Emmy nomination in 2021 for the HBO series “Lovecraft Country,” Majors had two box office hits at the time of his arrest.
After originating the high-profile role of Kang the Conqueror on the Marvel series “Loki,” the actor portrayed the central antagonist of February’s MCU tentpole movie “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” before appearing in March opposite Michael B. Jordan in the hit boxing sequel “Creed III.”
Majors is set to return to “Loki” for its second season this year, and is expected to appear in the upcoming Marvel blockbusters “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” (2025) and “Avengers: Secret Wars” (2026) — in a potential career-making run as the studio’s next supervillain.
Amid new allegations, Jonathan Majors’ lawyer files evidence that suggests the woman who accused him of assault was unscathed and at a nightclub after he allegedly hurt her.
The fallout from Majors’ arrest has been swift.
On April 17, Deadline reported that the actor and budding producer had been axed by his talent management company, Entertainment 360, and public relations firm the Lede Company.
Later that week, Variety reported that additional alleged abuse victims had come forward to the Manhattan D.A.’s office, citing sources familiar with the matter. Majors’ attorney disputed the report.
“This story is baseless and without any foundation,” Chaudhry told The Times via email. “Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone. Mr. Majors is currently considering his legal options.”
Prominent upcoming projects that have also dropped him include the movie adaptation of Walter Mosley’s novel “The Man in My Basement” and an unannounced Otis Redding biopic he had reportedly been circling. Majors’ arrest also prompted the U.S. military to pull Army ads that featured him, while a Texas Rangers MLB ad campaign in which he was set to appear for the 2023 season has been canceled.
The fate of other Majors projects remains up in the air. The buzzy Sundance Film Festival drama “Magazine Dreams,” in which he stars as a bodybuilder on the edge of a violent breakdown, was acquired by Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures and is slated for a December release.
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
