In his first interview since a jury found him guilty of assaulting and harassing his ex-girlfriend, Jonathan Majors said he was “shocked and afraid” upon hearing the verdict.
“I’m standing there and the verdict comes down. I say, ‘How is that possible based off the evidence, based off the prosecution’s evidence, let alone our evidence? How is that possible?” the actor told ABC News Live’s Linsey Davis in an exclusive sit-down interview a month after his conviction.
Majors was found guilty of one count of misdemeanour third-degree assault and one count of second-degree harassment but acquitted of two other counts of assault and aggravated harassment in a split verdict. He told Davis he plans to appeal.
As he awaits sentencing on the misdemeanor charges, Majors, who declined to testify in his defense during the trial, said he wanted to give his side of the story now “as part of healing.”
“I’m really blessed. I’m surrounded by people who love me, who care about me. But this has been very, very, very hard, and very difficult, and confusing in many ways,” Majors said. “But I’m standing.”
Crying, Majors said he hasn’t seen his daughter due to the case.
“Everything has kinda gone away. And it’s just me now, you know, and my lovely, you know, partner, [actress] Meagan [Good], and my dogs,” he said.
Majors, 34, was arrested and charged following a March 2023 altercation with his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, in a for-hire SUV in New York City.
The mixed verdict signalled the jury believed Majors recklessly assaulted his ex-girlfriend but did not intentionally do so.
Majors said picking Jabbari up was “one of the biggest mistakes of my life.”
“I pick her up, I put her back in the car. I’m trying to get rid of her. I’m trying to get away from her, as the video shows, you know?” he said. “Second biggest mistake of my life, I try to keep her in the car.”
The altercation began in the SUV, after Jabbari saw a text message from another woman on Majors’ phone, according to testimony from the trial. Jabbari testified that she tried to grab his phone after seeing a message pop up saying, “I wish I was kissing you.”
She described in court Majors pulling her right hand behind her back while holding the phone in her left.
“It just felt like he was twisting my arm and my hand and trying to make me feel pain,” she said in court.
Read Also:“My woman should know God but a baddie” -Spyro
Prosecutors said Jabbari fractured her finger and showed jurors photos taken by police of her injuries, including a cut to her ear and a bruised and swollen finger.
Majors denied twisting her arm and said he is confident he didn’t cause those injuries.
“She went to grab the phone. I held the phone. I pulled the phone back. She came on top of me, squeezed my face, slapped me. That’s all I remember,” he said.
He said he does not know how the injuries occurred.
“I wish to god I knew. That would give clarity. That would give me some type of peace about it,” he said.
Rather, he says he was “reckless with her heart” and said he has never struck a woman “ever.”
“I’m an athlete. I’m a sportsman. I know my body. I know how it moves. I know my strength, or lack thereof, you know? None of that was employed on her,” he said.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed Majors inflicted a “manipulative pattern of psychological abuse” and physical abuse on Jabbari that culminated in the incident in the SUV.
Majors implored Jabbari not to seek medical attention in September 2022 for an alleged head injury, according to previously undisclosed text messages read during the trial. Majors reportedly texted, “It could lead to an investigation even if you do lie and they suspect something.” Jabbari did not testify how she received the alleged injury.
Asked about those messages, Majors told Davis that the alleged injuries were fake, and that he received her text messages the morning after an argument.
“I received these text messages and I was like, ‘This is literally a nightmare,'” Majors said. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what injuries you’re talking about.”
“From my experience, from my point of view, a young Black man in any situation with anyone honestly, if the authorities get involved in any way, there’s going to be conversation, conflict, trauma,” he added.
Majors said he thought race played a role in him being arrested and convicted.
“If you watch those videos and you reverse that, and you saw a Black man chasing a young white girl down the street, screaming and crying, that man is gonna be shot and killed in the streets of New York City,” he told Davis. “That Black man will feel that.”
A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office responded, saying, in part, that they do their speaking in court.
Jurors also heard a recording Jabbari made with her iPhone of Majors shouting at her, demanding she behave like Coretta Scott King or Michelle Obama.
“I’m a great man. A great man. I do great things for my culture and for the world. … The woman that supports me needs to be a great woman,” Majors was heard on the recording saying. “Two nights ago, you did not do that, which took away from the plan.”
Jabbari testified that she understood it to mean that “he had to come first.”
Asked to give the context of the conversation, Majors told Davis, “It was me trying to give an analogy of what it is I’m aspiring to be, you know, these great men — Martin, President Obama — and trying to give a reference point to that.”
“I was attempting, and I did a terrible job at it apparently, I was attempting to motivate, to enlighten, to give perspective as in to what it is I was hoping to get out of the relationship,” he added.
The Emmy-nominated actor was arrested in March 2023, after officers responded to a 911 call in Manhattan for an alleged domestic dispute. He subsequently filed a cross-complaint against Jabbari, alleging he was the one assaulted.
Jabbari was arrested in October 2023 in New York on multiple charges, though the Manhattan district attorney’s office subsequently said it decided not to prosecute her because the case “lacks prosecutorial merit.”
The actor is scheduled to be sentenced for the two guilty counts on Feb. 6. He faces up to a year in prison on the two counts, though that sentence is unlikely for a first-time offender.
In response to Majors’ comments during the sit-down interview, Jabbari’s attorney said the actor “continues to take no accountability for his actions.”
“His denigration of our jury system is not dissimilar from the above-the-law attitude that he has maintained throughout this legal process,” her attorney, Brittany Henderson, said in a statement to ABC News. “The timing of these new statements demonstrates a clear lack of remorse for the actions for which he was found guilty and should make the sentencing decisions fairly easy for the Court.”
Majors played the role of Kang in several Marvel films and TV shows, including the Disney+ series “Loki,” and was set to return to the role in “Avengers: Kang Dynasty,” slated for a 2026 release date.
Following the verdict, Marvel dropped Majors from future productions as the Marvel villain.
When he learned of the decision, Majors said it was “like the world stopped.”
“It’s like you work so hard for things. And then, you know, it’s done,” he said.
Asked if he thinks he’d ever work in Hollywood again, Majors was confident he would.
“Yeah, I do. I pray I do,” he told Davis, saying he thinks he deserves a second chance. “But it’s God’s plan and God’s timing.”
SOURCE:MYJOYONLINE
