Just three weeks ago, before his arrest on domestic violence charges, Majors was poised for A-list stardom with 'Creed III,' upcoming Marvel movies and Oscar buzz for his film 'Magazine Dreams.'
Jonathan Majors’ attorney may have come out with a powerful defense of the actor against domestic violence charges, but that may not be enough to stop the apparent free-fall of his career that was so “red hot” up until a few weeks ago.
Deadline reported Monday that Majors’ longtime management company, Entertainment 360, has dropped him as a client, “due to issues surrounding the actor’s personal behavior.” It’s not clear from the Deadline report whether these issues have to do with Majors’ March 25 arrest in New York City, stemming from an alleged altercation with his girlfriend, or whether the management company became aware of other concerns about the actor.
The 33-year-old star of “Creed III” and Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” has already suffered other career setbacks in the wake of his arrest and the decision by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to file assault and harassment charges against him. Majors’ PR team also initiated a break with him, while he and the fashion house Valentino “mutually agreed” that he wouldn’t be attending this year’s Met Gala as one of its guests, Deadline also reported.
At Majors’ arraignment, his criminal defense attorney told the media that the actor is “completely innocent,” and insisted they have video evidence and eyewitness statements to prove he didn’t attack his girlfriend.
As ABC News and other outlets reported, police sources said Majors called 911 himself to report a concern about his girlfriend, with whom he lives. But when police arrived, the girlfriend claimed Majors attacked her. She said they were in a cab on the way home from a bar in Brooklyn when he physically attacked her. After officers noticed marks on her body, they placed Majors under arrest, ABC said.
Majors’ attorney Priya Chaudhry told the media that the evidence specifically includes video footage from the cab, testimony from the driver and other witnesses and two written statements from the woman recanting these allegations, Deadline reported
Chaudhry also released text messages to the press, in which the woman took blame for the fight: “Please let me know you’re okay when you get this,” the woman wrote. “They assured me that you won’t be charged. They said they had to arrest you as protocol when they saw the injuries on me and they knew we had a fight. I’m so angry that they did. And I’m sorry you’re in this position. Will make sure nothing happens about this.”
Whatever happened between Majors and his girlfriend, the charismatic actor, admired for the chiseled physique he displays in “Creed III,” is dealing with serious career fall-out.
Indiewire reported that 2023 was “supposed to be the beginning for Majors” to ascend to the A-list of superstar entertainers. Before he became an in-demand actor in 2023, he was “a lauded one,” Indiewire said. He first gained notice in the acclaimed 2019 independent film “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” and received a Primetime Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actor for the drama series “Lovecraft Country.”
In “Ant Man,” he plays supervillain Kang, a character who is poised to return in two more Disney-backed Marvel films. It’s also possible that Majors was going to receive Oscar attention later this year for his film “Magazine Dreams,” an “exploration of celebrity and violence in which he plays an aspiring bodybuilder who struggles to find human connection.”
Nonetheless, in a post-#MeToo world, any hint of alleged domestic violence in a male star’s personal life can do serious damage to his reputation and career. Another concern for Majors is that stories began circulating on social media following his arrest, Indiewire reported. People came forward to say that the intensity he shows on screen may stem from issues with anger management that are apparently well-known in the business.
On their separate social media accounts, aspiring filmmaker A.B. Allen and actor Tim Nicolai alleged that Majors behaved badly in personal and professional situations, according to Indiewire. Nicolai tweeted that “folks at Yale (where Majors got his MFA) and the broader NYC community have known about this for years. … It’s a shame it took this long for him to be reported.” In another tweet, Nicolai said that he and others are close to people who have been “harmed” by Majors.
If there is truth to Nicolai and Allen’s claims, it won’t matter if Manhattan prosecutors drop their charges in this one particular case, Indiewire said.
“It will resonate in a way that the legal system can’t easily remedy or address,” Indiewire said. “If they’re baseless, it’s still noise.”
