The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Court convicts actor of assaulting then-girlfriend
Jonathan Majors gets dropped by Marvel, Disney after conviction.
Jonathan Majors was convicted Monday of assaulting his former girlfriend after a twoweek trial that the actor hoped would salvage his damaged reputation and restore his status as an emerging Hollywood star.
A Manhattan jury found Majors, 34, guilty of one misdemeanor assault charge and one harassment violation. He was acquitted of a different assault charge and of aggravated harassment.
Majors, who was asked to stand and face the jurors as the verdict was read, showed no immediate reaction, looking slightly downward.
His sentencing was set for Feb. 6. He faces up to a year in jail for the assault conviction.
The charges stemmed from a dispute between the “Creed III” actor and his girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, that began in the backseat of a chauffeured car and spilled into the streets of Manhattan one night last March.
Jabbari, a 30-year-old British dancer, accused Majors of an attack inside the vehicle that left her in “excruciating” pain. She said he struck her in the head with his open hand, twisted her arm behind her back and squeezed her middle finger until it fractured.
Majors’ lawyers said she was the aggressor, alleging that she flew into a jealous rage after reading a text message on his phone sent by another woman. They said Jabbari had spread a “fantasy” to take down the actor, who was only trying to regain
his phone and get away safely.
The verdict dealt a major blow to Majors, who was on the verge of Hollywood stardom until his arrest in March sent his career into a tailspin.
Once slated to lead the next phase of the Marvel universe as the supervillain Kang the Conqueror, Majors faced an uncertain future with the lucrative franchise after the abuse charges. The actor, who attended the Yale School of Drama, has lost other parts and endorsement deals and seen his critically-acclaimed drama, “Magazine Dreams,” pulled from its scheduled release earlier this month.
Majors arrived in the courtroom each morning carrying a gold-leaf Bible, offering hugs to his family members and his current girlfriend, actress Meagan Good, before taking his seat. Expressionless for much of the testimony, he wiped away tears as his attorney, Priya Chaudhry, urged jurors to “end this nightmare
for Jonathan Majors.”
But as Majors sought vindication from the jury, the trial also brought forth new evidence about his troubled relationship with Jabbari, whom he met on the set of “Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania” two years ago.
Accusing Majors of a “cruel and manipulative pattern” of abuse, prosecutors shared text messages that showed the actor begging Jabbari not to seek hospital treatment for an earlier head injury. One message warned “it could lead to an investigation even if you do lie and they suspect something.”
They also played audio of Majors declaring himself a “great man,” then questioning whether Jabbari could meet the high standards set by the spouses of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama. Majors’ attorneys countered that Jabbari had surreptitiously recorded her boyfriend as part of her plot to “destroy” his career.