Jonathan Majors
Domestic violence expert says Majors turned to 'classic defense' to gain sympathy
Just weeks after being found guilty in the assault and harassment case against his ex-girlfriend, Jonathan Majors is still denying the allegations. When asked if he accepted the third-degree felony conviction, which carries a sentence of up to a year behind bars, Majors told Good Morning America: “I was reckless with her heart, not her body. “
In the 34-year-old former Marvel actor's first interview since his physical altercation with British dancer Grace Jabbari last March, he wiped away tears and suppressed his emotions. Nicole Bedera, a sociologist who studies sexual violence, said the conversation featured typical Darvo tactics, an acronym for “deny,” “attack” and “turn victim and perpetrator.” “He denies the reality presented to him and attacks the victim, implying that she is the one who is actually abusing him,” Bedera says. “It’s the classic defense of men who have behaved badly and are looking for empathy.”
When faced with ABC News' Linsey Davis, Majors sat back and answered simple questions without receiving any backlash. “I don’t really think anyone working in the media is trained enough to outsmart a perpetrator,” Bedera says. “And yet these really high-profile television journalists are hoping that they will have that great moment that Gayle King had with R. Kelly.”
It's the classic defense of men who have behaved badly and are looking for empathy
Davis never had that moment in the majors, at least not in the clips shown Monday. For the most part, she let the actor run the show, allowing him to characterize his decision to sit with her as “being brave and telling my side of the story.” She also failed to interrogate key parts of the saga, not least his texts in which he appeared to advise Jabbari against going to hospital to receive treatment for a head injury in a previous incident.
Instead, Davis allowed Majors to express shock that anyone could believe he was capable of hurting Jabbari; This despite being found guilty by a jury that was presented with photographic evidence of Jabbari's injured ear and broken finger, and Jabbari testified that Majors had punched her in the face and twisted her arm. Police discovered Jabbari unconscious on the closet floor of the apartment she shared with Majors in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood after the actor called 911.
When Davis asked Majors how Jabbari got hurt, he said, “I wish to God I knew. That would provide clarity. That would give me some kind of peace.” He changes the subject to the injuries he has suffered a fingernail scratch on his arm and a small cut on his cheek, “which bled overnight.” The Majors even submitted a photo of his bloody pillow, evidence that was not accepted at his trial.
In the early hours of March 25, Majors and Jabbari got into a physical altercation while being chauffeured in the back of an SUV. According to reports, the altercation in Chelsea began when the actor received a suggestive text message from another woman and a fight over the phone broke out. What happened next was captured on video surveillance: The Majors got out of the vehicle in the middle of traffic, Jabbari followed him out, and he picked them up and pushed them back into the car (the moment many legal experts say his conviction for manslaughter). abuse is sealed). Their tense exchange continued on a street corner before Majors broke away from Jabbari and fled on foot while Jabbari gave chase.
The Majors tried to explain away the CCTV footage of his escape from Jabbari by saying he would be in danger if he didn't escape. “If you look at all the videos and turn that around and see a black man chasing a young white girl down the street screaming and crying, that man will be shot in the streets of New York City,” he said.
Majors also blamed Jabbari for triggering his own childhood trauma and suicidal thoughts. He praised his new girlfriend, actress Meagan Good, who stood by him during the trial and the GMA interview. He compares Good to Coretta Scott King, the same civil rights icon he once criticized Jabbari (who is white) for not being like him.
“What you actually see in many of these PR campaigns is an appeal to convince liberal audiences that violence is OK, and it is actually an act of social justice that allows the perpetrator to remain in a position of power.” says Bedera. “He makes this really strong connection to the history of lynchings of black men, but he brings it up for his own benefit.”
Only at the very end of the interview did Majors, who is appealing the verdict, indicate why he was giving interviews at all. Asked if he expected to work in Hollywood again, he said with quiet confidence, “Yes, yes, I do,” before adopting a more reserved tone. “I pray I do. But it's God's plan and God's timing.” Majors was fired from Marvel Studios after the guilty verdict and the independent film “Magazine Dreams,” in which he starred, was pulled from its release schedule. He was fired by his management and PR team and taken from recruiting advertisements for the US Army.
GMA was a notable choice to interview the majors. The ABC show is owned by Disney, which also owns Marvel. Additional content from the interview will be shown on other Disney channels – ABC News and Hulu. Many industry experts believe the company gave him a platform to downplay his assault conviction and are now waiting to see how the public reacts. “One of the risks of these types of interviews is that they can lead people to reassess a crime they have already been convicted of, with less care and caution than would be the case with people who actually have access to all the evidence to evaluate first hand,” says Bedera. “Rape and domestic violence advocates will say we must wait until the criminal courts have made their decision before making a verdict. But even after the decision has been made, in this case the goal post moves again. Now the message is: Conviction is not enough.”
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