Report: Jonathan Majors accused of abusing two former romantic partners
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A new report accuses embattled actor Jonathan Majors of abusing two other former romantic partners, as well as behaving aggressively toward crew members on film sets and drama school classmates.
The resurfaced allegations arrive as Majors braces for a criminal trial in New York City where he faces misdemeanor assault and harassment charges. Majors, and his attorneys have denied the claims and have maintained his innocence throughout the case. His trial is set for Aug. 3.
On Thursday, Rolling Stone published a report with a new set of allegations that span the last decade, citing interviews with more than 40 individuals who were close to or familiar with Majors at Yale University's drama school, on film productions and while he was dating several other women. All of the sources were granted anonymity by Rolling Stone as they expressed fear of career repercussions and personal retribution from Majors and his team.
Read more: Jonathan Majors to face trial in August on domestic violence charges
Among the most serious allegations against Majors in the report are claims that the "Creed III" actor was physically and emotionally abusive with one previous girlfriend, and emotionally abusive with another. These specific allegations relied on interviews with nine sources, according to Rolling Stone.
One source told Rolling Stone that the treatment in one relationship was “really extreme abuse, physically and mentally,” and that things had allegedly led to “him strangling her.” Other sources told the magazine that a second girlfriend whom he had dated called their relationship “emotional torture.” In both, the sources alleged that Majors would begin relationships by being romantic and gradually become more volatile and controlling.
The Times has not independently corroborated the allegations.
Majors' attorney, Dustin A. Pusch, denied the allegations against his client in a statement provided to The Times.
"Jonathan Majors vehemently denies Rolling Stone’s false allegations that he physically, verbally, or emotionally abused anyone, let alone any of his past romantic partners," Pusch wrote in the statement. "Rolling Stone embarked on a mission to dig up dirt on Jonathan Majors in order to falsely paint him as a violent and abusive Black man, facts be damned."
Pusch also wrote that the allegations are based "entirely on hearsay" and called Rolling Stone's sourcing "seriously flawed."
Read more: News Analysis: What Jonathan Majors' dramatic rise and fall says about race and justice in Hollywood
Other sources told Rolling Stone that he had been involved in several physical and verbal altercations with classmates during rehearsals while at Yale where he attended a drama graduate program from 2013 to 2016. And in Hollywood, several production sources alleged to the magazine that Majors had pushed one person and physically intimidated another while screaming on the set of the indie film "Magazine Dreams."
Majors used a Method acting approach for the critically acclaimed drama about a rage-filled, fame-obsessed body builder, immersing himself into the film's character, even while off set, and crew members were told to keep their distance. Others reported feeling uncomfortable during the shoot, allegedly leading to a complaint to producers, according to Rolling Stone.
Another production source said Majors had made costumers cry on the set of 2022 war drama "Devotion," calling the behavior "borderline abusive," the magazine reported.
Pusch rebuffed the on-set allegations as "downright false."
“Everyone who has worked with Mr. Majors knows that he employs an immersive Method acting style, and while that can be misconstrued as rudeness at times, those who know Mr. Majors and work in the industry have attested to his dedication to his craft as well as his kindness," Pusch said in a separate statement sent to Rolling Stone, adding that Majors “also denies any allegations of abuse, violence, or intimidation during his time at Yale.”
Read more: Jonathan Majors reportedly dropped by management and PR firms, cut from projects
In a further rebuttal to the Rolling Stone report, Pusch also sent the publication six character statements from "Mr. Majors’ actual past romantic partners attesting to his character and the falsity of the charges."
The magazine, however, contacted the six former partners and reported that only one of the individuals consented to Majors' team using her statements. The woman, who dated the "Lovecraft Country" actor as a teenager, called him "sweet, kind and gentle." Other women said they never gave permission for such statements to be released , while another declined to share the statement with Majors' team altogether and claimed it was prewritten and false.
Pusch defended those character statements to The Times, writing, "The statements were not manufactured and there was plainly no intention to misrepresent the opinions of these individuals, each of whom Mr. Majors deeply respects.
"Rolling Stone has done exactly what the Manhattan DA has done: ignore and twist the facts in favor of a false and preconceived narrative," Pusch wrote.
Read more: Amid new allegations, Jonathan Majors’ attorney cites video taken just after alleged attack
After Majors was arrested and charged in late March, his rising career seemed to take a nosedive. He has reportedly been dropped by his publicity and management firms and also dropped by several prospective film projects and advertisement campaigns. It remains unclear whether Marvel will recast his part as Kang the Conqueror, who Majors played in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and the studio was gearing up to make the next supervillain of the current phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Marvel, as well as other close collaborators, such as "Creed III" co-star Michael B. Jordan, have remained silent about the allegations as the criminal case moves forward.
Prosecutors have accused Majors of injuring a woman during an altercation at the back of a taxi in Manhattan, allegedly pulling her finger, twisting her arm behind her back and striking her on the face with an open hand and cutting her ear. Majors has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault and one misdemeanor count each of third-degree attempted assault, second-degree aggravated harassment and second-degree harassment.
Read more: Marvel star Tenoch Huerta accused of sexual assault by musician María Elena Ríos
Multiple alleged abuse victims of Majors have come forward since the actor’s arrest and were cooperating with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Variety reported in April.
Majors' attorneys have countered the charges by releasing a video that appears to show the accuser uninjured and out on the town after parting ways with Major on the night of the alleged incident. His team has also released screenshots of text messages that purportedly show the accuser recanting her allegations and appearing to admit fault in the altercation.
And earlier this week, Insider reported that Majors had filed a separate police report against his accuser, alleging that he was a victim of domestic violence. In the report, taken at a Manhattan precinct last week, the 33-year-old actor claimed that he was not the aggressor and that the woman had attacked him, slapping, scratching and grabbing his face.
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Last week, New York Criminal Court Judge Rachel Pauley set a trial date of Aug. 3 during Majors' second court appearance . His attorney Priya Chaudhry said she provided prosecutors with “compelling evidence” of Majors’ innocence, including "photographs illustrating the injuries she inflicted on Mr. Majors and photos of his clothing torn as a direct consequence of (the woman’s) violent actions."
She has also accused police and prosecutors of racial bias against Majors, who is Black. She said a white police officer got in Majors’ face and taunted him when he tried showing the officer injuries that he said the woman caused.
Chaudhry had previously accused the district attorney of case-fixing and referred to Majors’ charges as “a witch hunt” against the actor that “highlights the racial bias that permeates the criminal justice system.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
