Disney has dropped Jonathan Majors as Marvel villain Kang from future productions, the studio announced Monday night.
The studio's decision came just hours after the actor was found guilty of one count of third-degree assault and one count of second-degree harassment, but acquitted of two additional counts of assault and aggravated harassment in a separate verdict. Both cases in which he was convicted were misdemeanors.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Marvel.
Majors, 34, was charged with assault and aggravated harassment, all misdemeanors, in connection with an altercation with his then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari in New York City in March.
Jonathan Majors (left) enters a courtroom at the Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, December 18, 2023 in New York. The actor is accused of assaulting his then-girlfriend as the two fought over a phone in the backseat of a chauffeur-driven car.Seth Wenig/AP
The mixed verdict suggests the jury believed Majors recklessly attacked his ex-girlfriend but did not do so intentionally.
The mixed verdict also suggests that the jury did not believe that Majors intentionally committed aggravated harassment inside the SUV, but rather that he molested her outside the vehicle by picking her up from the ground and throwing her back inside.
The majors did not appear to react when the verdict was announced. He stood before the jury with his lawyers as the forewoman announced the verdict on each of the four counts.
The actor's sentencing for both counts is scheduled for February 6. He faces up to a year in prison for the two misdemeanors, although that punishment is unlikely for a first-time offender.
The judge also renewed a protective order banning Majors from any contact with Jabbari.
Jonathan Majors stands in court during a hearing in his domestic violence case June 20, 2023 in New York.Steven Hirsch/AP, FILE
“At the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, we are committed to keeping survivors at the center of all our work,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “The evidence presented in this trial highlighted a cycle of psychological and emotional abuse and escalating patterns of coercion that are far too common in the many cases of intimate partner violence we see every day. Today a jury found there was a pattern of abuse and coercion culminating in Mr. Majors attacking and molesting his girlfriend. We thank the jury for their service and the survivor for courageously telling her story despite having to relive her trauma on the witness stand.”
After the verdict, Priya Chaudhry, a lawyer for Majors, said they were disappointed with the jury's decision.
“It is clear that the jury did not believe Grace Jabbari's story about what happened in the SUV because it found that Mr. Majors did not intentionally cause her injuries. We are grateful for this,” their statement said.
“We are disappointed, however, that while the jury did not believe Ms. Jabbari, they still found that Mr. Majors was somehow reckless when she attacked him,” the statement continued.
She added: “Mr Majors still has faith in the process and looks forward to fully clearing his name.”
Majors, who has played Kang in several Marvel films and television shows, was accused of attacking Jabbari in the backseat of a rented Cadillac Escalade after she said she grabbed his phone when a message from another woman popped up .
Prosecutors alleged the Majors inflicted a “manipulative pattern of psychological abuse” and physical abuse on Jabbari that culminated in the SUV incident in which she suffered a cut behind her ear and a broken finger.
Prosecutor Michael Perez said in opening statements that Majors “grabbed and squeezed her hand, particularly her right middle finger” and then “exercised a punch that swept across the right side of her head.” Then, after they got out of the vehicle, he picked up Jabbari and pushed her back into the car, Perez said.
The defense claimed that Jabbari was the aggressor and that he physically attacked Majors so obviously that the driver of her rented SUV called her “psycho girl” – and that he was left covered in blood and running to a hotel to hide from her.
“This is about the end of a relationship, not a crime,” defense attorney Priya Chaudhry said in her opening arguments, telling the six-member jury that Jabbari made false accusations after Majors “cancelled her Mrs. Majors plan.” .
“Even though the world sees him as a movie star, he is a normal person,” Chaudhry said of Majors. “His career was unstoppable until he ended his relationship with Ms. Jabbari and she made these false allegations.”
Actor Jonathan Majors (center) arrives in court for his domestic violence trial on December 5, 2023 in New York. Bebeto Matthews/AP
Jabbari took the stand for four days during the trial and was the first witness to testify for the state.
She told the court that Majors first became angry with her in December 2021 and described, sometimes through tears, several instances in which he was mean or aggressive.
According to previously undisclosed text messages read during the trial, Majors pleaded with Jabbari not to seek medical attention for a head injury in September 2022. The nature of the injury was not disclosed and the jury was instructed to consider the news as background information for the trial.
While describing the night of the incident, Jabbari said her head was resting on Major's shoulder in the SUV as he scrolled on his phone when a message popped up that said, “I wish I kissed you.”
She said she was shocked, grabbed his phone and turned away from him. At that point, she said she “felt a violent slap on me. What I knew was the weight of him on top of me and his attempt to pry the phone from my fingers.”
She described how Majors pulled her right hand behind her back while holding the phone in her left hand, saying, “It just felt like he was twisting my arm and my hand and trying to cause me pain.” “
The defense played surveillance footage from that night that appeared to show the majors lifting Jabbari and pushing her into the vehicle in an attempt to undermine her testimony. Jabbari said she thought she was facing outward at the time, although footage appears to show she was facing the other way.
Jurors also heard Majors' 911 call the next morning, which sparked the NYPD's domestic violence investigation and his March 25 arrest. He reported that his “ex-partner” was unconscious in his apartment and had just returned from a hotel stay and didn’t know what happened. Prosecutors also showed photos taken by police of Jabbari's injuries, including a cut to her ear and an apparent bruised and swollen finger.
Other witnesses included the driver of the rented SUV, who told the court through an Urdu interpreter that it sounded as if Jabbari had hit Majors in the vehicle, according to Courthouse News Service. The driver also said he saw Majors push her back into the SUV while the two argued outside the vehicle, the publication reported.
Majors declined to testify in his own defense. The defense rested its case after calling three witnesses on Wednesday.
Actor Jonathan Majors (center) arrives in court for a trial regarding his domestic violence case on December 4, 2023 in New York. Yuki Iwamura/AP
Attorneys agreed to consolidate the numerous assault charges against Majors into a single count. He was also charged with aggravated harassment after prosecutors said he “picked up Ms. Jabbari with both hands and pushed her back into the SUV.”
Majors pleaded not guilty to the charge. He attended the trial accompanied by his girlfriend, actress Meagan Good, and was often seen carrying a Bible.
Jabbari herself was arrested in October in New York on multiple charges, although the Manhattan district attorney's office later said it had decided not to prosecute her because the case had “no prosecutorial value.”
Her attorney, Brittany Henderson, released a statement Monday night following Majors' verdict, claiming that “justice was finally served today.”
“Grace didn’t choose this situation. The decision she made was to stand up for what was right following Mr Majors' arrest in March this year. Grace has been publicly attacked because of her courage to testify to the truth, but her unwavering determination to see this case through to the end stemmed from her desire to give other survivors the same courage when justice requires it,” Henderson said in her statement .
“Grace’s strength and tireless persistence allowed the jury system to function as it should. Today shows that no one, no matter how powerful they may seem, is above the law. Grace hopes this verdict will deter future similar behavior and empower other survivors to take the witness stand to ensure accountability,” Henderson added.
Jonathan Majors attends the Sydney premiere of “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter on February 2, 2023 in Sydney.Hanna Lassen/WireImage via Getty Images, FILE
Marvel first announced Majors for the role of Kang in December 2020. He was slated to play Kang in several films and TV shows, including “Avengers: Kang Dynasty,” scheduled for release in 2026.
The character's complex history in the comics allowed the Majors to play multiple versions of Kang in each film and television show.
Majors made his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “He Who Remains”, a Kang variant, in the finale of the first season of the Disney + series “Loki”, which premiered in July 2021.
Majors played another version of the character, Kang the Conqueror, in 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and another variant, Victor Timely, in the second season of Loki, which premiered a few months later .