Majors battles assault claim
Att’y: Marvel star ‘completely innocent,’ accuser recanted
Rising film star Jonathan Majors denied Sunday charges he choked and assaulted a woman during a domestic disturbance, saying through his lawyer that the woman has already recanted the allegations.
Majors, 33, who recently starred in “Creed III” and played the villain “Kang the Conqueror” in the latest Marvel movie, was arrested Saturday morning for misdemeanor assault, attempted assault and aggravated harassment.
He called 911 from his Chelsea penthouse apartment near W. 22nd St. and Eighth Ave. saying his 30-year-old live-in girlfriend was causing problems, police sources said. When cops arrived, they noticed she was injured, and she told them he hit her face, grabbed her hand and put his hand to her throat, the sources said.
On Sunday, Majors’ lawyer Priya Chaudhry called Majors “completely innocent and provably the victim,” and said they’re gathering evidence to show the Manhattan district attorney’s office he didn’t assault her.
“This evidence includes video footage from the vehicle where this episode took place, witness testimony from the driver and others who both saw and heard the episode, and, most importantly, two written statements from the woman recanting these allegations,” Chaudhry said.
“Unfortunately, this incident came about because this woman was having an emotional crisis, for which she was taken to a hospital yesterday,” Chaudhry added. “The NYPD is required to make an arrest in these situations, and this is the only reason Mr. Majors was arrested. We expect these charges to be dropped soon.”
A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment Sunday.
Chaudhry didn’t respond to a followup question about why the NYPD was supposedly “required to make an arrest.”
Meanwhile, the arrest spurred the Army to pull its new recruitment advertising campaign narrated by Majors and aimed at a youth audience.
In a statement Sunday, the Army’s Enterprise Marketing Office said the Army was “deeply concerned by the allegations” against the movie star. It added that while Majors “is innocent until proven guilty, prudence dictates that we pull our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete.”
Majors, who rose to prominence after appearing in the indie movie “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” in 2019 and starred in the HBO series “Lovecraft Country,” is poised to play an outsize, highly anticipated role in the multibillion-dollar Marvel film franchise.
He’s played versions of the “Kang” character in the first season of the TV show “Loki” and in the recently released “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and is expected to reprise the role in at least one upcoming “Avengers” film and Loki’s second season.
Law enforcement sources said the girlfriend worked on the “Quantumania” set.
Majors was released without bail at a brief arraignment Saturday in Manhattan Criminal Court, where a judge issued a limited order of protection for the girlfriend. He’s due back in court in May.