Jonathan Majors found guilty in domestic violence trial [Updated]
Jonathan Majors had been charged with reckless assault and harassment after an incident with ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari
Aux News Jonathan Majors![Jonathan Majors found guilty in domestic violence trial [Updated]](https://img.pastemagazine.com/wp-content/avuploads/2023/12/14223155/e90eb68fbcd42c4eee332de0c272063e.jpg)
Jonathan Majors was found guilty after being charged with assault and harassment in an incident involving his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. The jury announced the verdict on Monday after about two weeks of evidence and arguments in court. While the case revolved around a physical altercation between Majors and Jabbari that took place in a vehicle on March 25, the prosecution’s case contextualized the former couple’s relationship with prior incidents of violence and aggression Majors had allegedly perpetrated against Jabbari. He now faces up to a year in prison.
The verdict was reached by a six-person jury after over four hours of deliberation (per The Hollywood Reporter). While Majors was on trial for assault, aggravated harassment, and harassment charges, he was only found guilty of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment. He was found not guilty of intentional assault in the third degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree.
According to Rolling Stone, Majors, his girlfriend Meagan Good, and even his lawyer Priya Chaudhry became emotional and teary during closing arguments on Thursday, December 14, as Chaudhry asserted her client’s innocence and claimed the trial manifested Majors’ “fear of when a Black man in America calls 911 comes true. And now we are here.” However, the prosecution argued that Jabbari went out of her way to protect Majors, having hesitated to tell law enforcement that he was the cause of her injuries. They said Majors and his team’s tactic of labeling Jabbari as the aggressor in the incident is an example of “DARVO tactics” (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender). “Domestic violence is serious,” Assistant district attorney Kelli Galaway said to the jury. “Victims of domestic violence struggle to report and when they do there are critiques on how they do it.”
Jabbari took the stand for several days to give testimony about the couple’s relationship; Majors, on the other hand, did not testify in the trial. The actor has already faced professional consequences in the wake of his arrest, including the apparently permanent shelving of his film Magazine Dreams, which premiered at Sundance in January 2023. He appeared as Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania and the Disney+ series Loki, and was slated to be the main villain in the MCU’s next Avengers saga.
[Update 12/18 4:40 pm]: Deadline reports that Majors has been fired by Disney and Marvel in the wake of the verdict.
86 Comments
“As of this writing…” You just know the Marvel team is throwing offers out to a half-dozen replacement actors. OR, shifting their narrative focus away from Kang.
Yeah, it would not be that hard to say “Hey, remember how we left things with Loki? Yeah, seems like he thwarted Kang there.” and just move on. No one is waiting for more Kang.
I can take or leave more Kang. I enjoyed his absolute ruthlessness in ‘Quantumania’. That said, I think there are other more interesting characters (Doom, any number of X-villains) I’d love to see take centre stage.
Good, take out the trash. Why so many rich and powerful men think it’s ok to hit their girlfriends and think that no one will find out is absolutely infuriating. Your actions have consequences, asshole. Do Von Miller next.
And Johnny Depp
…Is this kinda thing more prevalent among the rich and powerful? I’ve never heard that before, I think if anything the stereotype is the opposite. You don’t see many wealthy people wearing shits that are colloquially called “wife-beaters.”
If i had to guess it’s more referring to general misconduct/abuse of power and the ability to get away with it. I have no clue what the actual numbers are re: male domestic abusers by income
Well then that was some poor wording, since they were pretty specific about what they were tired of rich people getting away with.
I don’t think there’s a class divide among domestic abusers one way or the other (though maybe you can make an argument that households earning lower incomes experience higher levels of stress that contribute to violence), but I would assume that the genuinely rich and powerful are far, far, far more likely to get away scot free.Then again, my understanding is also that domestic abuse is difficult to prosecute anyway.
Yeah this sounds right.
Maybe, though I’d suspect that high-income domestic violence victims are more likely to report domestic violence to police than low-income victims. So it could be the case that a disproportionate number of richer people perpetrators have their crimes reported and prosecuted, even if they get the benefit of better defense.
Higher income people are also more likely to be able to cover up domestic violence cases and may want to keep their names out of the news. It’s also hard to get a handle on these things because a lot of domestic violence never gets reported, regardless of socio-economic status.If I had to guess, I’d say rates are similar across pretty much all groups but it’s really hard to prove anything one way or another beyond the data you already quoted.
Domestic abuse is very difficult to prosecute for all the reasons that were evident in this trial. Also, most victims of domestic abuse refuse to cooperate with the prosecution even if they were the person who initially reported the crime. In this case, the state put a great deal of resources into the case that normally we don’t see. Plus, the victim was cooperative and credible despite their efforts to paint her in a bad light.
Pretty sure the vast majority of male domestic abusers are not rich and powerful, simply by virtue of the fact that the vast majority of men are not rich and powerful. The media just gives more attention to the rich and powerful because that’s what people care about.
Yeah. Also why are you in the greys!? You’re one of the better commenters on here.
I mostly comment on Kotaku and apparently grey status is specific to each site.
Intimate partner violence rates were highest in the poorest neighborhoods (13.8 per 1,000 women in the lowest income quartile, followed by 12.1, 8.2, and 5.0 in the respective higher income quartiles)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5486977/So yeah, intimate partner violence is likely higher among poorer people. That’s not surprising — crime across almost all categories is higher among poorer people. That said, I don’t think it’s crazy to find it especially outrageous when a very privileged person engages in crime.
Poor people are more likely to stick with abusive relationships because of finances (for themselves and/or their kids). They have fewer resources to escape abusers when they do leave.
“Rich and powerful” seems like a reach in this instance. At most he was still an up-and-comer in search of a break-out role.
shut the hell upwhat would u say if it was a broke dude?
The defense’s race baiting was a nice touch as well: “…asserted her client’s innocence and claimed the trial manifested Majors’ ‘fear of when a Black man in America calls 911 comes true. And now we are here.’” At least this apparently got him to finally close his mouth.
Pretty gross to trivialize actual police brutality cases as a sweaty (and failed) attempt to stave off jail time.
Yep. Pathetic.
“Why so many rich and powerful men think it’s ok to hit their girlfriends and think that no one will find out is absolutely infuriating”This is more a man thing than a rich and powerful thing. I mean it’s definitely true that richer and more powerful men think (know) that they can get away with breaking the law, but men in general think it’s okay to hit their girlfriends.(Obviously yes I know “not all men,” but domestic violence isn’t a thing that happens in higher numbers among the rich.)
Come to my town next, where women are sporting week-old bruises and living with old breaks and fractures, many of them homeless because “You all made bad choices.” They never had a chance at justice.
Maybe she deserved it, who knows maybe he was protecting himself? A lot of women know they can provoke a man and get away with it. Remember equal rights equal lefts!
I’d be very surprised if Marvel hadn’t already made the decision to re-cast him and just haven’t announced it yet.
I don’t think they even need to. They can, if they choose, pivot to either their already established Kingpin, or bring in Dr. Doom. I know they were planning this next phase around Kang, but Loki did a nice job wrapping that story (if they so choose), so there’s really not much of a need to continue with the character. But of course, even if they do, he’s also obviously a character that’s VERY easy to recast.
Considering how they’ve treated the multiverse, every character is now very easy to recast.
I think it’s hard to have Kingpin go against Marvel’s more cosmic-level heroes. Kingpin versus Spider-Man or Daredevil is fun, but I don’t think you can plausibly say that Kingpin is a threat to Thor.
i honestly wonder if they’ll even announce anything. the director of ‘the kang dynasty’ has left the project and they haven’t announced anyone new. feels like they can easily say they’ve wrapped his story up and pretend it never happened. seems like they’re setting secret wars up as a universe reset anyway.everyone keeps saying doom, but man i think they gotta just let doom exist in the universe and not immediately tee him up as the big bad.
Agreed on Dr Doom. They need to take a hint from Phase 1 and let the big bad simmer for a bit while the characters develop some more. They could have movies that are happening “simultaneously” within the universe as an easy hand wave for why characters are stuck performing on their own instead of making them operate in alternate dimensions like they recently have been.
Agreed. If you’re going to use Doom (and it’ll definitely happen eventually), to do him properly you need real buildup, and there’s just not enough time unless they delay the next two Avengers films. (Which wouldn’t be the worst idea regardless, but that’s another story). There are other villains, though I think the clear best idea is to just recast Kang.
(I’d still like them to just pull Yahya Abdul-Mateen into the role and scrap or recast Wonder Man, since that’s a niche project that definitely isn’t going to be Marvel’s Next Big Thing anyway.)
i don’t even want buildup i want him living and existing in the universe long-term. sure he can be ‘the bad guy’ for an avengers movie or whatever but they better not kill him. we need sustained, long-form antagonists that don’t die at the end of the movie.i agree recasting kang is fine. personally i think the funniest choice would be a white guy.
I mean, there was a black Loki in the void in Loki. Hell, make the new Kang a reptile.Kang the Crocodile.
“that don’t die at the end of the movie.”This works great in comics, much less so in a four quadrant movie.
i mean you can look at loki’s arc in the movies and see they’re capable of doing it.
Yeah, Wonder-Man feels like one of those projects greenlit in the Shang-Chi era, where Disney clearly thought they could just throw any hero on screen and bank a billion dollars, as long as there was a Marvel logo in the trailers.
Majors aside, I think pivoting away from Kang would be a good idea overall. Character just isn’t taking hold the way Thanos did.
When Thanos showed up, he defeated The Hulk. Kang’s first appearance, he got beat by Ant-Man. Already I’m skeptical.
So much this. Kang has shown to be as deadly as Loki, aka not a Thanos level threat. Thanos first real screen time was after he beat Thor, killed Loki, and then whipped Hulk like he was in a sparring match. Kang needed to kill at least some of the Antman family and then leave the Quantum realm to be on the same plain as Thanos.
I bet they have a lot of contingency plans that depended on this trial and any others. I know the internet demands justice (“it’s been 20 minutes since he was convicted and Disney still hasn’t made an announcement!”), but they are going to want their lawyers to look over his contract very carefully to make absolutely sure this gives them an out and they do all their due diligence. Otherwise, they risk being sued for wrongful termination and breach of contract. They may even just negotiate a settlement with him to avoid that entirely and that will take time.
No need. This violates the ‘goodwill’ clauses in his contract.
Looks like Marvel pulled the pin on that grenade.
Oh there’s no quesiton a plan was in place. There’s also no question they had to wait until a conviction for whatever behavior clause is in his contract to kick in. They would have had to buy his contract out before, most likely, and now they don’t.
God willing, this “Great Man’s” next gig will be taking food orders.
Or selling timeshares.I hear that’s the thing to do these days.
Maybe he could star in Nate Parker’s next film.
He Who Remains After Closing to Clean Out the Rat Traps.
*clears throat, glances at Bob Iger*
And now we wait to see if anyone’s willing to go full Ashton Kutcher for him.
Sounds like the guy was a complete dick, and he sure didn’t have any longstanding high-profile professional friendships like Masterson did.So…not holding my breath. Hollywood’s reaction (non-Marvel category):Overused gif? Yes. But for a reason.
I feel in the circumstances this one works better:
He is not worth the investment in PR that Marvel would have to make to rehab his image, plus he is kind of a shit actor. His performances in every Marvel production were either unintentionally comic or just painful to watch. I have no idea how people thought he was a leading man worth of a role like Kang. When everyone was so hyped for him after he first showed up on Loki all I could think was “… this clown is… Thanos-level bad? LOL.” Good riddance.
Have you ever seen LoveCraft Country? That’s where some had their first exposure to his acting. I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. There was a way they could’ve continued forward with him. As Kang he’s not playing a hero he’s playing a villain. Villains do bad things to people. In being found guilty in this case he’s also been found to have done a bad thing to a person. Does that make him a hero? No, but it does make appear to be a villain of sorts. If anything it actually enhances the perception of him as the big bad in his role. However the safe and easy route is to recast. After all you can’t have such an out of control hothead be your leading big bad, can you?
“Ladies and gentlemen, the part of ‘Kang’ will now be played by John David Washington”Just kidding, they’re probably not willing to pay JDW money.
BlacKkKlang the Conqueror
That’s who I’ve been rooting for
If they hadn’t already blown their Chiwetel Ejiofor wad on Doctor Strange, he’d be my choice. The guy just radiates understated menace.
Not sure if this is a hot take but I just think JDW is not a good actor, let alone anywhere near Denzel’s level. He’s been really bland in anything I’ve seen him in.
The Creator was a mediocre film already, but his ‘acting’ in it is borderline unwatchable
You’re entitled to your opinion, but yeah, that’s a pretty hot take.
It’s still mindboggling how anyone could have hired a lawyer as braindead as his.A random person on the street could have provided a better defense strategy… Like, holy shit.
It’s a pretty standard approach when it’s clear that your client is guilty as fuck — you don’t have any *actual* basis for a defense, so you do all the shit that this lawyer did.
If your client is guilty as fuck, you do absolutely everything to make sure that’s the ruling? Including pissing off the judge and unveiling damning shit that technically doesn’t even have any bearing to the incident at hand?I mean, I can DEFINITELY see that happening if his lawyer was given lots, and lots, and lots of money to sabotage the case. Lots of money, and a G5.
Why should you go to jail for a crime somebody else … noticed?
It was a giant alarm bell when rolling Stone did some digging into the past of Majors, and then his lawyer provided testimonials of several former girlfriends saying what a great guy Majors was. But then of course, Rolling Stone actually contacted those same girlfriends, and most of them said that the lawyer sent out statements without their knowledge. Realistically, Majors should have taken some plea deal, then spent the year laying low. His lawyer violently fighting for most of the year was a disaster.
No shit. His lawyers’ tactics got damning facts brought into the record. I’m a Law & Order legal expert at best and even I know if you bring something up that the prosecution has not, it becomes fair game.
Marvel just fired him.
Well, that was faster than I expected (see my other posts on this story), but supports my thought that Disney had contingency plans in place pending this trial.
You mean the contract that will have ‘goodwill’ clauses in it?
The ‘contingency’ was to eject for cause him if convicted, settle if he wasn’t.
Yeah, they have had plenty of time to think on “if guilty, release press release on him being let go, and have 2 or 3 alternatives vetted out by then”. I am sure one of those is “who to simply recast” and others are “what character is the best fit to replace Kang and let us just forget that was the plan”. It is not like anyone is going to say “WHAT, NO KANG?! Well then I am done with Marvel movies!”
They probably had a list of potential replies for guilty, not guilty, and mistrial that had all been vetted by legal. They were already re-writing some things and moving directors, so it’s not like Disney hasn’t been preparing.
Nobody cares about The High Evolutionary outside of Guardians vol. 3. Just recast Kang with Chukwudi Iwuji and either say he’s a variant or ignore.
Pick someone that’s a 180 to Tig Nataro/ChristopherPlummer him.Do it like Dr Who. To throw the avengers off my scent, I will regenerate in the form of their famous Hollywood actor Nickolaus Cage
I fully support Tig Notaro as Kang.
The only problem is that villains in these movies eventually have to lose, and you can’t get me to root against Tig Notaro.
FWIW, I liked Majors as He Who Remains. I think he’s a decent actor. The eccentricities of the ultimate timelord make The Doctor look like a rank amateur. A TARDIS is trivial compared to his bracelet TempPad. Now that Loki is holding it all together, not much more needs to be said about the future of the Sacred Timeline. All that said, Majors’ criminal conviction is an excellent excuse to remove a character like Kang (and his numerous Variants) – that the masses have a hard enough time wrapping their collective head around. I think Marvel has run its course with Avengers villains and should shift to X-Men. Maybe do a series with Magneto hunting down more ‘tailors and pig farmers’. Heaven knows that more Michael Fassbender doing James Bond stuff would make my wife happy. lol
Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg would be fun to see back in the MCU. His character isn’t dead…yet.
who are they gonna get to play kang it wont be the same unless if they change the script for every movie which is doubtful
Why wouldn’t they change the script for every movie? Marvel is well-known for making changes to every movie up until the last minute.
It’s established that variants don’t have to look alike (despite the teaser at the end of Quantumania). Just get another talented Black actor of a Certain Age to take his place that isn’t already in the MCU. David Oyelowo, Colman Domingo, John David Washington. That’s just off the top of my head.
Hell, make it a woman. There’s definitely precedent.
… Tig Notaro, maybe?
“Chaudhry asserted her client’s innocence and claimed the trial manifested Majors’ “fear of when a Black man in America calls 911 comes true. And now we are here.”
No – the fear of a Black man in America in calling 911 is that they will likely shoot you. This is not a case of racism, but is a case of a man who hit a woman being found guilty and having to face the consequences of his action. Chaudhry making it about race is disingenuous and only serves to hurt all the people who actually do have a valid argument regarding racism and police/legal treatment. This man and his lawyer are both pieces of shit.
In the midst of all this, I hope Ms Jabbari is doing okay and has people around her to help her through the backlash that will inevitable come from society’s worst inhabitants.
Is it bad that the most shocking thing to me about all of this is that Meagan Good is dating this asshole?