All eyes are on actor Jonathan Majors who's currently on trial on misdemeanor assault and harassment charges in New York City.
Majors was arrested on March 25 on charges of assault, strangulation and harassment stemming from a domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. Majors was released from custody that same day, with his legal team asserting that the "Creed III" star is “completely innocent.”
Majors himself has pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted, he could face up to a year in prison.
"I'm a great man. A great man. I do great things for my culture and for the world."
The arrest wasn't without consequence for the actor. The United States Army announced that it would pause its advertising campaign with the actor, who was the narrator of two ads that were part of the Army's "Be All You Can Be" campaign. Majors was later dropped by his management company Entertainment 360 and his publicists at the Lede Company. His invitation to the 2023 Met Gala was also rescinded.
As for Majors’ movie projects, Majors will no longer star in or executive produce an upcoming film adaptation of Walter Mosley's 2004 novel "The Man in My Basement.” He is also no longer under consideration to star in a biopic about late musician Otis Redding. Additionally, Majors stepped down from the board of the Gotham Film and Media Institute and his work with the Sidney Poitier Initiative.
Variety reported back in April that “multiple alleged abuse victims” of Majors had come forward in the wake of his arrest and were working with the district attorney’s office. Majors currently faces four remaining charges of misdemeanor assault, aggravated harassment and harassment. Four of the previous eight charges were dismissed and merged into one count of assault ahead of Monday’s opening statements “due to the nature of the injuries,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
Here’s everything that’s happened so far:
Monday, Dec. 4: Opening statements
Assistant District Attorney Michael Perez claimed Majors had “engaged in a cool and manipulative pattern” of psychological abuse prior to committing domestic violence against his then-romantic partner, Grace Jabbari, on March 25. The pair had met on the set of "Ant-Man" in 2021, which was before the “defendant’s true self emerged,” Perez said. Majors allegedly snapped at Jabbari, controlled and manipulated her, withheld affection and threatened suicide to “control her actions,” Perez said.
Perez recalled a September 2022 incident, in which Majors threw belongings and yelled at Jabbari after she returned to their home with a friend she had gotten drinks with that same night. In a recording Jabbari made with her iPhone, Majors is heard demanding she behave like Coretta Scott King or Michelle Obama.
“I'm a great man. A great man. I do great things for my culture and for the world. . . . The woman that supports me needs to be a great woman,” Majors is heard saying. “Two nights ago, you did not do that. Which took away from the plan.”
As for the altercation that took place on March 25, Perez said it began after midnight when Majors and Jabbari were in the car heading home from dinner in Brooklyn. During the car ride, Jabbari saw a text message on Majors’ phone saying, “Wish I was kissing you right now” from a woman named Cleopatra. Jabbari then grabbed the phone before Majors “grabbed her arm and right hand, twisted her forearm and then struck her right ear,” per the complaint. Perez said Majors also threw Jabbari back into the car “like a football” when she attempted to leave.
The pair ultimately abandoned the car and parted ways. Majors made arrangements to stay at a hotel, while Jabbari went to a club with three strangers she ran into on the street. Perez said Jabbari accepted the strangers’ invitation to go out so she could “block out the experience” with Majors. It was while she was at the club that Jabbari received a text from Majors ending their relationship.
Jabbari later returned to Majors’ apartment and called him multiple times before taking two sleeping pills. When Majors returned to the apartment, he saw the top door locked, called a handyman to unlock it, found Jabbari on the floor and called 9-1-1. Perez claimed Jabbari was hesitant to tell the police how she got her injuries. Jabbari was taken to a local hospital and received treatment.
Defense attorney Priya Chaudhry accused Jabbari of making up the allegations in an effort to taint Majors’ career and reputation following their breakup. “In revenge, she made these false allegations to ruin Jonathan Majors and to take away everything he had spent his whole life working for,” Chaudhry said.
Chaudhry also claimed Jabbari was the aggressor who slapped, clawed and scratched Majors while they were in the car. Majors, Chaudhry claimed, didn’t throw Jabbari into the car but rather, “scooped her up and put her back in the car” because she was in danger of running into traffic. Jabbari was allegedly unharmed and unhurt while Majors was left bloodied and ran to a hotel to hide from her.
“This is a case about the end of a relationship, not about a crime, at least not one that Mr. Majors committed,” Chaudhry said.
Tuesday, Dec. 5: Grace Jabbari testifies against Majors
Jabbari, a professional dancer, took the stand on the second day of the trial. She said the first time Majors became angry with her was in December 2021: “It was the first time I felt scared of him.”
Jabbari also recalled a July 2022 incident when Majors started throwing things at her in their shared home in West Hollywood.
“The first thing that he threw was the candle,” Jabbari said, as she showed the jury a photo of the room. “The dent in the wall is one of the candles.”
She continued, "I took the photo because the shift in his temper was something that I was aware of. I just wanted to remember. I know I kept forgiving him but I wanted to have a bit of a memory of it.”
By September 2022, Jabbari was living with Majors in London while he was shooting a movie. She recalled the time she came home with a few friends she had been at a pub with.
“[Majors] was getting a bit snappy. Just quick with his responses," Jabbari said. She continued, saying she and Majors met up at a park the following day. He accused her of being an alcoholic, tore the headphones off her head and started shouting at her.
"Better not be in the house when I get home," Majors allegedly had told her that day.
Jabarri later returned to their home to pack her belongings but “froze” when she heard Majors coming. "He proceeded to grab everything . . . and was just throwing it, swiping it, moving it and throwing it, anything I had bought him he was breaking," she said. "I just said, 'You can stop, I'm leaving, just please stop.'"
The incident, Jabarri said, left her scared and confused. She added that Majors was “blaming” her because she “disturbed the peace, or something like that.”
Wednesday, Dec. 6: Jabbari takes the stand again
Jabbari testified that she did not want to involve the police after Majors allegedly assaulted her in March. She told jurors that she “didn’t want to put him in that situation” because Majors had previously warned her about trusting the police due to “what they would do to him as a Black man.”
Jabbari said she felt anxious after Majors was arrested: “I felt like it was my fault. I should have lied and said nothing happened so he wouldn’t be in trouble or upset with me. I wanted to fix it.”
Earlier in the day, Jabbari briefly left the room to collect herself after she opened up about the trial’s impact on her life, Variety reported.
“I’m a very private person,” she said. “It’s been very difficult to see a lot of unwanted attention. I like to keep quiet.”
Cross-examination also began Wednesday afternoon with Chaudhry asking Jabbari about Majors’ upbringing along with their two-year relationship history. The defense asked if her drinking habits had been a “constant source of tension” in the relationship. Jabbari responded that Majors “would get upset with me and use my drinking as an excuse."
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