A new report detailing Jonathan Majors’ alleged history of “extreme” physical and emotional abuse features a “chilling” claim about statements provided by his exes.
In March, Majors, who plays the villainous Kang in the popular MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) film series, was arrested on charges of strangulation, assault and harassment over an alleged incident involving an ex-partner. The case will go to trial on 3 August, with the NYPD confirming that the accuser is also under investigation.
After news of the allegations broke, Majors was dropped by his management team, while the US Army pulled a number of advertisements featuring the actor from circulation. He was also reportedly dropped from a forthcoming adaptation of the Walter Mosley novel The Man in My Basement.
However, the Creed III star, 33, has maintained his innocence, with his lawyers alleging in a statement: “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.”
On Friday (30 June), Rolling Stone published an article in which the outlet spoke to more than 30 people who accused Majors of “extreme” abuse, ranging from his time in acting school right through to the set of Magazine Dreams, a forthcoming film he was tipped to receive an Oscar nomination for.
Majors was also accused of strangling a woman he dated, an allegation the outlet says was corroborated by nine sources who were close to the relationship. Another woman described her relationship with Majors as “emotional torture” and said there were moments of “near violence” where the actor would get “filled with rage” and “need to hit something or punch something”.
In response to the allegations, Major’s legal team sent six character witness statements from women who had either dated the actor or had been close with him. The outlet noted that his attorney said these statements were provided “by Mr Majors’ actual past romantic partners attesting to his character and the falsity of the charges”, adding: “But Rolling Stone purposefully ignored those facts and red flags and published the false charges anyway”.
Rolling Stone claims it reached out to all six women, three of whom said they never gave the actor’s legal representatives permission to release the statements. A fourth woman claimed her statement was pre-written by his team and that she never approved of it being provided.
Readers of the article are reacting to this detail, with one person, Lisa Bee, writing on Twitter: “This detail from the @RollingStone article on Jonathan Majors’ abuse allegations is chilling. His attorney is putting out fake statements about his character that have been attributed to his exes??? Yikes.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £6.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £6.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Another tweeter, Kat Tenbarge, added: “My stomach dropped when I got to this part of the Jonathan Majors investigation.”
Jonathan Majors— (Getty Images)
Majors’ legal reps told The Independent : “Rolling Stone has misrepresented the circumstances under which it was provided written statements from individuals who know Jonathan Majors. The statements were provided to Rolling Stone off the record and not for publication expressly to protect the privacy of the individuals and to make sure they could decide for themselves whether and how to comment, and Rolling Stone was encouraged to reach out to the individuals directly for that purpose.
“The statements were not manufactured and there was plainly no intention to misrepresent the opinions of these individuals, each of whom Mr Majors deeply respects. We expect Rolling Stone to correct this misrepresentation in the article, in addition to the many other falsehoods in it.”
The outlet said that one woman replied: ”After 20 years of knowing him, I can tell you who Jonathan is. He did not do these things. He is exactly the opposite of what these allegations say. Jonathan is the most self-controlled, disciplined, well-mannered person I know. We all call him ‘the peacekeeper.’ He is not violent in any way.” She dated Majors from age 13 to 18.
Majors was also accused of physically intimidating a crew member working on Devotion, in which he plays the US Navy’s first Black aviator Jesse Brown, by screaming at them.
His attorney said: “The allegations that Mr Majors got physical with or physically intimidated anyone on any movie set are downright false. Everyone who has worked with Mr Majors knows that he employs an immersive Method acting style, and while that can be misconstrued as rudeness at times, those who know Mr Majors and work in the industry have attested to his dedication to his craft as well as his kindness.”
Meanwhile, a source working on Magazine Dreams said that producers warned them to stay away from Majors as he was Method acting for the role of a volatile bodybuilder.
But a production member said: “I’ve heard of different Method actors and how their behavior is, but none of them are violent or rude toward their crew.” They said he “was completely disrespectful and kind of violent toward everybody” and left people afraid they were “gonna get hurt”.
