Jonathan Majors has been accused of abusing ex-girlfriends, a report says
A new report accuses struggling actor Jonathan Majors of abusing two other former romantic partners and being aggressive towards crew members on film sets and classmates at drama school.
The allegations resurface as Majors prepares for a criminal trial in New York City, where he faces charges of assault and harassment. Majors and his lawyers have denied the allegations and have maintained his innocence throughout the trial. His trial is scheduled for August 3.
On Thursday, Rolling Stone published a report with a new set of allegations spanning the past decade, citing interviews with more than 40 people who were close or familiar with majors at Yale University’s drama school, on film productions and while he was with several other women was together. All sources were granted anonymity by Rolling Stone as they expressed fear of career repercussions and personal retribution from Major and his team.
Among the most serious allegations against Majors in the report is the allegation that the “Creed III” actor physically and emotionally abused a former girlfriend and emotionally abused another. According to Rolling Stone, these specific claims were based on interviews with nine sources.
A source told Rolling Stone that the treatment in a relationship was “really extreme abuse, physical and mental” and that things allegedly led to “he strangling her.” Other sources told the magazine that a second girlfriend he dated called their relationship “emotional torture.” In both cases, the sources claimed that the majors would start their relationships romantically and gradually become more volatile and controlling.
The Times has not independently confirmed the allegations.
Majors’ attorney, Dustin A. Pusch, denied the allegations against his client in a statement to the Times.
“Jonathan Majors vehemently denies Rolling Stone’s false allegations that he physically, verbally or emotionally abused anyone, let alone his former romantic partners,” Pusch wrote in the statement. “Rolling Stone embarked on a mission to expose Jonathan Majors for misrepresenting him as a violent and abusive black man, damn it.”
Pusch also wrote that the allegations were “entirely based on hearsay” and called the Rolling Stone procurement “seriously flawed”.
Other sources told Rolling Stone that he was involved in several physical and verbal altercations with classmates during rehearsals at Yale, where he attended a graduate drama program from 2013 to 2016. And in Hollywood, multiple production sources claimed to the magazine that the majors pressured one person and physically intimidated another while she screamed on the set of the indie film “Magazine Dreams.”
The majors used a method acting approach for this Critically acclaimed drama about an angry, fame-obsessed bodybuilder who becomes engrossed in the film’s character, even off-shoot, and the crew members have been told to keep their distance. Others reported feeling uncomfortable during filming, which Rolling Stone reportedly led to a complaint with producers.
Another production source said Majors made customers cry on the set of 2022 war drama Devotion, calling the behavior “borderline offensive,” the magazine reported.
Pusch rejected the allegations on the set as “completely wrong”.
“Anyone who has worked with Mr. Majors knows he employs an immersive, methodical acting style, and while this can sometimes be misconstrued as rudeness, those who know Mr. Majors and work in the industry appreciate his dedication to his craft confirmed.” as well as his kindness,” Pusch said in a separate statement to Rolling Stone, adding that Majors “also denies any allegations of abuse, violence or intimidation during his time at Yale.”
In a further rebuttal to the Rolling Stone report, Pusch also sent the publication six character statements from “Mr. Majors’ actual former love partners attest to his character and the falsehood of the allegations.”
However, the magazine contacted the six former partners and reported that only one of the people consented to the use of their statements by the Majors’ team. The woman who dated the ‘Lovecraft Country’ actor as a teenager called him “sweet, kind and gentle.” Other women said they never consented to the release of such statements, while another denied sharing the statement with the Majors team at all, claiming it was fabricated and false.
Pusch defended those character statements to the Times, writing, “The statements were not made up and there was clearly no intent to misrepresent the opinions of these individuals, each of whom Mr. Majors deeply respects.”
“Rolling Stone did exactly what the Manhattan Attorney’s office did: ignored the facts and twisted them in favor of a false and preconceived narrative,” Pusch wrote.
After Majors was arrested and charged in late March, his burgeoning career appeared to take a nosedive. He was reportedly banned from his advertising and management companies and also from several future film projects and advertising campaigns. It remains unclear if Marvel will recast his role as Kang the Conqueror, played by Majors in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, as the studio prepares to create the next supervillain of the current phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe .
Marvel and other close associates, such as “Creed III” co-star Michael B. Jordan, have remained silent on the allegations as the criminal case progressed.
Prosecutors have accused Majors of injuring a woman in an altercation in the backseat of a Manhattan cab by allegedly pulling her finger, twisting her arm behind her back, slapping her face with his open hand and cutting her ear . Majors was charged with two counts of third-degree assault and one count each of attempted third-degree assault, second-degree aggravated harassment and second-degree molestation.
Several alleged Majors abuse victims have come forward since the actor’s arrest and are cooperating with the Manhattan Attorney’s Office. diversity reported in April.
Majors’ lawyers have responded to the allegations by releasing a video showing the accuser walking around town, apparently unharmed, after splitting from Major on the night of the alleged incident. His team has also released screenshots of text messages purportedly showing the accuser denying her allegations and appearing to admit responsibility for the altercation.
And earlier this week Insiders reported that Majors had filed a separate police report against his accuser, alleging that he was a victim of domestic violence. In the report, taken at a Manhattan precinct last week, the 33-year-old actor claimed he was not the attacker and the woman attacked him by hitting, scratching and grabbing him in the face.
Last week, New York Criminal Court Judge Rachel Pauley set the trial date for August 3 during Major’s second court hearing. His attorney, Priya Chaudhry, said she had provided prosecutors with “convincing evidence” of Majors’ innocence, including “photographs illustrating the injuries she inflicted on Mr Majors and photos of his torn clothing as a direct result of the acts of violence (the Woman).”
She has also accused the police and prosecutors of racial bias against the black majors. She said a white police officer jumped in Major’s face and taunted him as he tried to show the officer the injuries he believed the woman had caused.
Chaudhry had previously accused the district attorney of rigging cases, calling the allegations by Majors a “witch hunt” against the actor that “illustrates the racial bias that pervades the criminal justice system.”
