A timeline of Marvel Cinematic Universe actor Jonathan Majors' controversies

• Marvel star Jonathan Major was arrested in connection with a domestic dispute earlier this year.

• The actor was charged with six counts in relation to the incident.

• Here is a timeline of Majors' case and controversial moments.

•  

March 25, 2023: Majors is arrested in connection with a 'domestic dispute' in New York City.

Majors' legal woes began on the morning of March 25.

In a statement provided to Insider, the NYPD said police responded to a 911 call around 11:14 a.m. in a Manhattan apartment. A "preliminary investigation" found that the 33-year-old actor and a woman — later identified as Majors' ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari — were involved in a "domestic dispute."

Majors was arrested on the scene and held on suspicion of strangulation, assault, and harassment after Jabbari told police that she was assaulted, the NYPD told Insider.

Police said the woman sustained "minor injuries to her head and neck" and was taken to a local hospital.

According to reports filed with the New York Criminal Court seen by Insider, Majors was charged with assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault, and harassment. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Jabbari was granted a temporary order of protection and Majors was released on his own recognizance.

Majors' criminal defense lawyer Priya Chaudhry told Insider in a statement that Majors was "the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows." She said she believed the charges would be "dropped imminently."

March 26: Within days, Majors' career begins feeling the fallout.

The case quickly began having an effect on Majors' career. On March 26, The US Army pulled two recruitment campaign videos that starred Majors, according to People.

The public affairs chief for the Army Enterprise Marketing Office, Laura DeFrancisco, told the outlet that though Majors is considered innocent until proven guilty, "prudence dictates that we pull our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete."

On April 18, Deadline reported Majors had been dropped by his talent manager Entertainment 360, and his PR firm, The Lede Company.

Deadline also reported that same day that Majors had been dropped from "The Man in My Basement," and an ad campaign for the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball team, and was taken out of the running for an Otis Redding biopic he was interested in.

March 30: Majors' team denies the assault and shares text messages purported to be from the victim.

Later that week, Chaudhry told People in a statement that Majors denied assaulting Jabbari. She also shared text messages with multiple media outlets she purported were from Jabbari, however, the messages have not been independently verified.

According to Chaudry, on the day of the assault, "the woman sent text messages to Mr. Majors admitting that she was the one who used physical force against him. She also disavowed any allegations that he had done anything to her and confirmed that Mr. Majors called 911 because of her mental condition."

"I reiterated this was not an attack and they do not have my blessing on any charges being placed. I read the paper they gave me about strangulation and I said point blank this did not occur and should be removed immediately," the messages read in part.

April 20: Majors' lawyer sends a letter to the judge offering up her client's version of events.

On April 20, Chaudhry sent a letter to the New York County Criminal Court to provide evidence in the hopes of dismissing Majors' case.

In the letter, Chaudhry said the driver of the car where the alleged assault took place would testify that the woman attacked Majors, and the Marvel actor did not harm her in response.

Chaudhry said in the 7-page missive that Majors was "terrified" of Jabbari.

"After assaulting, attacking, injuring, and chasing Mr. Majors in front of witnesses, Ms. Jabbari was angry and surprised that he ended. their relationship," the letter read. "In other words, she obviously believed that she was entitled to do these things 'with no consequences under the law or even within their relationship—that, in every way, she was allowed to do these things for him."

Chaudhry went on to say that a police officer could be seen "coaching Ms. Jabbari to accuse Mr. Majors of assault" in police footage.

After the letter was publicly released in September, Insider's Laura Italiano contacted the NYPD for comment but did not receive a response.

May 9: Majors' lawyer calls the case a "witch hunt" during the first hearing.

During the first hearing on May 9, Insider's Laura Italiano reported that Jabbari said Majors pulled her middle finger, "causing bruising, swelling, and substantial pain." She also accused Majors of grabbing her "right arm, [placed] it behind my body, and use his hands to twist my right forearm and right middle finger, causing substantial pain to my right forearm and right middle finger."

Prosecutors also alleged Majors hit the victim with his hand on her right ear and caused a cut, and that he pushed her into a car using both of his hands, causing her to fall backward.

Majors, through his lawyer Chaudhry, maintained his innocence.

"We have provided the District Attorney with irrefutable evidence that the woman is lying, including video proof showing nothing happened, especially not where she claimed," Chaudry said in front of the court, Deadline reported.

She went on to call the case a "witch hunt."

June 20: Majors' lawyer says her clients arrest is 'racist.'

During Majors' second hearing in June, Chaudhry spoke to Insider's Laura Italiano and allowed Italiano to review police footage from the night of the assault.

Chaudhry said the footage showed the officers questioning among themselves how Majors could afford to live in a luxe penthouse, as they didn't realize he was a famous actor.

Chaudhry told Insider that all six of the responding officers were white and said that influenced how the evening's events went down.

"It is heartbreaking that in 2023, a Black man should still be afraid to dial 911, even to save a life," she said.

"The sad truth of this story is that if you are Black man and there is a white woman who needs medical help, you should think twice about calling 911 because chances are, you will be blamed and arrested."

"And everyone—despite proof of the Black man's innocence—will assume he did it," she said. "And no one — despite proof of the white woman's crimes — will prosecute her."

The NYPD did not respond to Insider's request for comment at the time. 

June 27: Majors files a cross-complaint against ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.

On June 27, Insider's Laura Italiano reported that Majors had filed an NYPD domestic violence complaint against Jabbari a day after his second hearing.

According to a domestic incident report and sworn affidavit obtained by Insider, Majors said a "drunk and hysterical" Jabbari scratched, slapped, and grabbed at his face, causing pain and bleeding.

Majors also accused his ex-girlfriend of running up his credit card without his authorization, returning to her home in London with his iPhone, and "a Rolex vintage watch and other luxury items that cost $6,000 - $7,000," according to the incident report.

Insider reported a day later that the NYPD had issued a probable cause "investigation card" for Jabbari, authorizing them to arrest Jabbari on suspicion of third-degree assault if she returned to the US.

June 29: Rolling Stone reports former coworkers of Majors alleged the actor became violent.

On June 29, Rolling Stone released the results of a monthslong investigation where anonymous sources alleged Majors abused two women he dated, was violent during his time at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, and had outbursts on the set of his latest film "Magazine Dreams."

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Majors' attorney, Dustin A. Pusch, denied the allegations.

Majors' team also sent six character witness statements in support of the actor to Rolling Stone from women he'd dated or known.

However, four of the women told the publication that they never gave permission to Majors' attorneys to release those statements. One of the four women told Rolling Stone that the statement attributed to her was pre-written and inaccurate.

Rolling Stone said Haley Carter, who dated Majors from age 13 to 18, was the only one to consent to the statement going public.

"After 20 years of knowing him, I can tell you who Jonathan is. He did not do these things," the statement said.

Majors' attorneys defended the character witness statements to Insider's Natalie Musumeci.

"Rolling Stone has misrepresented the circumstances under which it was provided written statements from individuals who know Jonathan Majors," the attorneys said in a statement. "The statements were provided to Rolling Stone off the record and not for publication expressly to protect the privacy of the individuals and to make sure they could decide for themselves whether and how to comment, and Rolling Stone was encouraged to reach out to the individuals directly for that purpose."

The attorneys added: "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."

July 31: Majors appears in the trailer for "Loki" season two, which seems to confirm his continued participation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

After the assault controversy began, several Marvel fans wondered whether Majors would continue to star in the franchise, since he was slated to play the next major villain, Kang.

A month later, the first trailer for "Loki" season two dropped and Majors made a brief appearance, which implied that, for now, the actor would continue to star in the franchise.

Sept 14: Majors is accused of staging a fight.

The day before another court hearing in September, TMZ reported that Majors broke up a fight between two female high-schoolers near a Hollywood In-N-Out Burger.

A video was later shared of the fight and Majors' attempts to stop it.

However, some fans accused the actor of staging the fight as a publicity stunt to distract from his assault case in Manhattan. Some even began to make memes and videos mocking Majors.

Majors' lawyer Chaudhry denied that this was the case.

"Suggesting that the video of Mr. Majors breaking up the fight is staged is absurd," the lawyer told Insider. "One of the girls at the school has come out today and confirmed it was real."

Chaudhry said that Majors was picking up takeout across the street for his girlfriend Meagan Good before seeing the fight.

"Instead of baseless gossip, people should focus on the critical video that shows Mr. Majors' innocence, and which the prosecutors buried," Chaudhry added.

That week, a video from a sidewalk surveillance camera was filed as an exhibit in a defense motion that showed Jabbari after her alleged brawl with Majors in March where she bloodied her right ear and broke her right middle finger in a street brawl.

These ear and finger injuries are not apparent in the video which was recorded eight minutes after Jabbari told prosecutors the brawl occurred.

Majors' next hearing is October 25.

Oct 2: A 'Loki' executive producer said the production was not asked to change the season after Majors' assault case.

The week of "Loki" season 2 release, Variety published an interview with the show's executive producer Kevin Wright.

During the interview, they asked the producer if Majors' arrest resulted in any changes to the show.

Wright replied: "No. This is maybe — not maybe — this is the first Marvel series to never have any additional photography. The story that is on screen is the story we set out to make. We went out there with a very specific idea of what we wanted this to be, and we found a way to tell it in that production period. It's very much what's on screen on Disney+."

When asked whether there were any discussions about making changes due to Majors' assault case, Wright added: "No. And that mainly came from — I know as much as you do at the moment. It felt hasty to do anything without knowing how all of this plays out."

While the likeness of Majors is seen as statues in the first two episodes of "Loki" season 2, the actor makes his first proper appearance in the third episode, which first aired on October 20th.

In this episode, he plays a new character called Victor Timely, a Black inventor from 1893. Victor appears to be a version of Kang and Majors' other Marvel character, He Who Remains, from another timeline where he hasn't mastered time travel yet.

Read the original article on Insider