NEW YORK (AP) — Jonathan Majors was convicted Monday of assaulting his former girlfriend after a trial that he hoped would exonerate him and restore his status as a rising Hollywood star. It had the exact opposite effect: Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Co. dropped him hours after the verdict.
A Manhattan jury found Majors, 34, guilty of one count of assault and one count of harassment in connection with his March confrontation with then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari. She said he attacked her in a car and left her in “unbearable” pain; His lawyers said Jabbari was the attacker.
Majors, who was acquitted of another charge of assault and aggravated harassment, looked slightly downward and showed no immediate reaction as the verdict was read. As he left the courthouse, he declined to comment.
His lawyer Priya Chaudhry said in a statement that he “still has faith in the process and looks forward to fully clearing his name.” While he was convicted of one count of assault involving intent to cause bodily harm, she said his team was grateful for his acquittal in the other assault count of intent to cause bodily harm.
“Mr. “Majors is grateful to God, his family, his friends and his fans for their love and support during these harrowing eight months,” Chaudhry said.
Marvel and Disney immediately dropped the “Creed III” star from any upcoming projects following the conviction, said a person close to the studio, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.
Before his arrest, Majors was well on his way to becoming a central figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing the antagonist role of Kang. Majors previously appeared in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and the first two seasons of “Loki.” He was set to star in “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” scheduled for release in May 2026.
Majors, whose credits include “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Devotion” and “Da 5 Bloods,” was one of the fastest-rising stars in Hollywood. The Yale School of Drama graduate also played the role of a troubled amateur bodybuilder in “Magazine Dreams,” which made its acclaimed debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January and was due in theaters this month. Ahead of Majors' trial, Disney-owned distributor Searchlight Pictures removed “Magazine Dreams” from its release calendar.
Majors' sentencing was scheduled for Feb. 6. He faces up to a year in prison for the assault conviction, although probation or other non-prison sentences are also possible.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement that the trial “illustrated a cycle of psychological and emotional abuse and escalating patterns of coercion.”
The argument between Majors and Jabbari began in the backseat of a chauffeur-driven car and spread to the streets of Manhattan.
Jabbari, a 30-year-old British dancer, accused Majors of hitting her on the head with an open hand, twisting her arm behind her back and squeezing her middle finger until it broke.
Majors' lawyers claimed she became jealous after reading a text message – from another woman – on his phone. They said Jabbari spread a “fantasy” to bring down the actor, who was just trying to get his phone back and get away safely.
But as Majors asked the jury for vindication, the trial also uncovered new evidence of his troubled relationship with Jabbari, whom he met two years ago on the set of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.”
Prosecutors shared text messages that showed the actor pleading with Jabbari not to seek hospital treatment for a previous head injury. One message warned: “It could lead to an investigation even if you lie and they suspect something.”
They also played audio recordings of Majors calling himself a “great man” and then wondering whether Jabbari could meet the high standards set by the spouses of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama. Majors' lawyers countered that Jabbari secretly filmed her boyfriend as part of a conspiracy to “destroy” his career.
During her four days of tearful testimony, Jabbari said Majors was overly controlling and prone to bouts of explosive anger that left her “pretty physically frightened.” She collapsed on the witness stand as a jury watched security footage of him pushing her back into the car after the backseat confrontation. Prosecutors described in the video how Majors “abused” her and pushed her into the vehicle “as if she were a doll.”
Every morning, Majors came into the courtroom with a gold-leaf Bible, accompanied by family members and his current girlfriend, actress Meagan Good. He was expressionless for much of the testimony, wiping away tears as Chaudhry urged jurors to “end this nightmare for Jonathan Majors” during their closing arguments Thursday.
The majors did not comment. But Chaudhry said her client fell victim to “white lies, big lies and pretty little lies” that Jabbari made up to get revenge on an unfaithful partner.
The lawyer cited security footage taken immediately after the jab that showed Majors sprinting away from his girlfriend as she chased him through the night. Jabbari then followed a group of strangers she met on the street to a dance club, where she ordered drinks for the group, apparently not appreciating her injured hand.
“She went to revenge parties and demanded champagne from the man she was angry with and treated these strangers to champagne that she bought with Jonathan’s credit card,” Chaudhry alleged.
The next morning, the Majors called police after finding Jabbari unconscious in the closet of their Manhattan penthouse. He was arrested at the scene while Jabbari was taken to a hospital to receive treatment for her ear and hand injuries.
“He called 911 out of concern for her and fear of what would happen if a black man came true in America,” Chaudhry said, accusing police and prosecutors of not taking Major's claims that he was bloodied and scratched during the argument seriously to have taken.
In her closing argument, prosecutor Kelli Galaway said Majors was following a tried-and-tested playbook used by perpetrators to portray their victims as attackers.
“This is not a revenge plot to ruin the life or career of the defendant,” Galaway said. “You were asked why you are here? Because domestic violence is serious.”
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This story has been corrected to clarify that the maximum prison sentence of one year applies to the assault conviction, not the harassment conviction.