The inevitable Jonathan Majors comeback is here

Content warning for discussion of partner violence

In March of 2023, when Jonathan Majors was riding high on Creed III and being cast as Marvel’s next big bad, he was arrested for assaulting his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. In December of that year, he was found guilty on two misdemeanor counts stemming from his arrest, and Marvel fired him. Previously, he was dropped by his manager, and ultimately, Searchlight Pictures dumped his Oscar bait film, Magazine Dreams. But that was years ago now, and apparently two years is enough time to mount a comeback from intimate partner violence, because Jonathan Majors is back in a big way.

He's got a cover profile in The Hollywood Reporter which you can read here, or you can read this article about the history of turnips instead. He’s getting PEOPLE magazine headlines about his very recent marriage to Meagan Good, and he’s making daytime talk show appearances, promoting his “journey forward” and Magazine Dreams, which is finally coming out tomorrow courtesy Briarcliff Entertainment (the same company that picked up Ali Abassi’s The Apprentice). A busy week for Jonathan Majors! Everything is fine and normal! 

There have always been people who did not believe the allegations against Majors, even after he was convicted, or people who thought this was some sort of “both sides” situation in which there could be anything Grace Jabbari could do to justify someone putting their hands around her neck…which Majors seemingly admits to in leaked audio recently released by Rolling Stone.

In the clip, which is less than 30 seconds and deeply troubling, Majors admits he “aggressed” Jabbari, who says, “You strangled me and pushed me against the car.” Majors then replies, “Yes, all those things are under ‘aggressed’, yeah.” He goes on to say that’s “never happened” to him, and that he responded to “something inside of [Jabbari]”. Majors frames the event as something happening to him BECAUSE of her. It’s victim blaming and not taking responsibility for his actions, but none of that is surprising.

I do wonder, though, if the support that was gathering for him evaporates now. For instance, Michael B. Jordan spoke in support of Majors on February 12, saying “I’m proud of his resilience and his strength” and, “That’s my boy” before confirming he would work with Majors again. Majors, though, always maintained he never strangled Jabbari, but now there’s audio of him admitting it. Will THAT change anyone’s mind?

When it comes to cancel culture, or rather, consequence culture, people often talk about what redemption looks like. To a lot of people, Jonathan Majors was convicted and sentenced (to probation), he’s paid his debt to society via the courts, which is what we say we want, right? Well, as Grace Jabbari said in an address to the court, “He’s not sorry. He has not accepted responsibility,” which is in line with that newly leaked audio in which he frames attacking Jabbari almost as something she made him do. 

There is a lot of support for Majors in the Black community, and a lot of people who think Grace Jabbari weaponized her whiteness against her Black boyfriend. But now there is AUDIO of him ADMITTING he strangled her. At what point do we say that no one is owed a Hollywood career and men who harm women need to do a lot more work than cry on TV? When Sherri Shepherd asked Majors about the audio, he just said, “God has a plan.” Similarly, when Angelique Jackson asked him about the audio in Variety, he talks about praying with “countless” Black women on the streets of New York. There is no further follow-up in either case.

Again, I know there is a lot of support for Majors, and a lot of it is in the Black community for a man many people think just got, like, caught up in an extra dramatic fight with a white woman, who turned her whiteness against him with the cops, but HE F-CKING ADMITTED TO PUTTING HANDS ON HER. Where is the line? Apparently, there isn’t one. A man can admit to putting hands on his partner and people will let him off because God has a plan. Well, part of my plan is writing off Jonathan Majors. Other people can lift that boat. I’m too f-cking tired.

Here's Meagan Good out yesterday in New York. Majors was there, too, but we're not using a photo of him.