U.S. Army Pauses Multimillion-Dollar Ad Campaign Featuring Jonathan Majors After His Arrest
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The US Army has put a hold on its new multimillion dollar ad campaign featuring Jonathan Majors in the wake of the actor’s Saturday arrest.
The ad campaign was paused Sunday after Majors, its featured actor, was arrested the day before, officials said. He was the on-screen narrator in the revived “Be All You Can Be” ads.
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Majors faces charges of assault, strangulation, and harassment, New York Police told Army Times.
“The U.S. Army is aware of the arrest of Jonathan Majors and we are deeply concerned by the allegations surrounding his arrest,” said Laura DeFrancisco, spokesperson for the Army Enterprise Marketing Office, which oversees the DDB ad and executes the marketing efforts.
Majors and a 30-year-old woman were involved in what police call “a domestic dispute,” with the woman sustained injuries to her head and neck. Officers did a “preliminary investigation” and arrested the actor.
“While Mr. Majors is innocent until proven guilty, prudence dictates that we pull our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete.” DeFrancisco added.
The Army ad was scheduled to be prominent in the coverage for the 2023 NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, whose Final Four and championship is upcoming. The Army Times also reported that the ad campaign would include immersive in-person events during the Final Four, but it is unclear if those will proceed.
Priya Chaudhry, Majors’s criminal defense lawyer, issued a statement on his behalf.
“Jonathan Majors is completely innocent and is provably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows. We are quickly gathering and presenting evidence to the District Attorney with the expectation that all charges will be dropped imminently. 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.
All the evidence proves that Mr. Majors is entirely innocent and did not assault her whatsoever. Unfortunately, this incident came about because this woman was having an emotional crisis, for which she was taken to a hospital yesterday. 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.”
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