In the latest stumble on his path to becoming the multiverse’s greatest threat, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star Jonathan Majors has been dropped by both his talent management agency and a public relations firm.
As announced by Deadline in an April 17th exclusive, per a number of their alleged insider sources, Majors was dropped by his longtime manager, Entertinament 360, “due to issues surrounding the actor’s personal behavior.”
Said sources also revealed that earlier this month PR firm The Lede Company similarly parted ways with the Creed III star (Unlike with Entertainmenent 360, Deadline’s sources were unable to provide any specific reason for The Lede Company’s decision).
Further, Majors and fashion house Valentino, who had previously tagged the actor as one of their brand ambassadors, are said to have “mutually agreed” to scrap their previous plans to send him to this year’s Met Gala as one of their invited guests.
However, while these three institutions have taken steps to at least address Majors’ recent controversy, it appears Disney and Marvel are burying their heads in the sand and attempting to avoid the situation all together.
According to Deadline, there have apparently “been zero conversations in the Marvel camp to drop Majors from the MCU.”
The man upon whom Marvel placed all their future cinematic hopes on was first arrested on March 25th after officers with the New York City Police Department “responded to a 911 call inside of an apartment located in the vicinity of West 22nd Street and 8th Avenue, within the confines of the 10 Precinct.”
“A preliminary investigation determined that a 33-year-old male was involved in a domestic dispute with a 30-year-old female,” explained the department in an official statement. “The victim informed police she was assaulted. Officers placed the 33-year-old male into custody without incident, The victim sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to an area hospital in stable condition.”
After being processed by law enforcement, Majors was released from custody later that same weekend.
Unfortunately for the actor, just two days later, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office would officially charge him with “three counts of assault in the third degree, aggravated harassment in the second degree, three counts of attempted assault in the third degree and harassment in the second degree” in relation to the supposed incident.
Though specifics regarding the incident have yet to be released by either of the involved parties, in breaking the news of Majors’ arrest, TMZ reported that “our sources say police were told the girlfriend saw another woman texting Majors, and she confronted him — trying to sneak a peek at his phone.”
“We’re told the alleged victim/GF claims this got Majors mad, and that he allegedly grabbed her hand and allegedly slapped her,” the outlet added. “We’re also told the alleged victim claims he put his hands around her neck during this. Our sources say the woman was dropped off somewhere and that JM spent the night elsewhere. It appears the girlfriend went to police the following morning (Sat.) and reported a crime.”
Prior to his being formally charged, Majors’ criminal defense attorney Priya Chaudhry issued a separate statement arguing that her client was “completely innocent and is probably 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,” she said. “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,” Chaudhry continued. “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.”
But despite Chaudhry’s claiming to possess numerous pieces of evidence capable of exonerating her client, as of writing, she and Majors have only publicly released a set of three text messages, all of which are said to have been sent by his alleged victim (It should be noted that a of writing, the authenticity of these texts has yet to be independently verified).
“Please let me know you’re okay when you get this,” the alleged victim opens.
“They assured me that you won’t be charged,” she supposedly continues. “They said they had to arrest you as protocol when they saw the injuries on me and they knew we had a fight. I’m so angry that they did. And I’m sorry you’re in this position. Will make sure nothing happens about this. I told them it was my fault for trying to grab your phone. I only just got out of hospital. Just call me when you’re out. I love you.”
The woman would then go on to inform Majors that “They just called again to check on me and I reiterated how 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,” she is said to have written. “The judge is definitely going to be told this. She ensured this to me. I know you have the best team and there’s nothing to worry about I just want you to know that I’m doing all I can my end. I also said to tell the judge to know that the origin of the call was to do with me collapsing and passing out and your worry as my partner due to our communication prior. Out of care. She promised all will be relayed.”
Regardless of where one stands regarding Majors’ innocence, it should be noted that Hollywood’s relatively quick ‘damaged goods’ response to his arrest stands in extremely stark contrast to how the industry treated DC Studios’ own problem child, Ezra Miller.
While Majors has been dropped by nearly every one of his professional partners due to being charged with various counts of domestic violence – all of which still have yet to be credibly proven against him in a court of law – Miller was coddled by Warner Bros. and its associates despite how their non-binary wunderkin not only racked up a laundry list of criminal charges but was also caught on video physically assaulting a woman in Iceland.
It seems that when it comes to the world of identity politics, black individuals – men in particular – now deserve unequal treatment in Hollywood compared to anyone even remotely trans.
Majors’ next court appearance regarding his domestic assault case is currently set for May 8th.