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Actor Jonathan Majors’ first media appearance since being found guilty of assaulting and harassing his former girlfriend in December was a cringe-inducing mess.
To fill you in on things: The trial detailed a host of disturbing allegations about Majors’ behavior during his relationship with Grace Jabbari. The evidence included a text message from Majors in which he discouraged his then-girlfriend from going to the hospital after a physical encounter; images of Jabbari’s injuries after an altercation with Majors; and an audio recording of a rant in which Majors berated Jabbari for getting drunk and not behaving like the kind of woman a “great man” deserves — someone, he said, like first lady Michelle Obama or activist Coretta Scott King, the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (more on this later). After the trial, his lawyer issued a statement to NBC News that “Mr. Majors still has faith in the process and looks forward to fully clearing his name.”
Given all of that, it was always going to be difficult for Majors to cut a sympathetic figure. But his responses in Monday’s interview with ABC News don’t seem to have helped.
He blamed his guilty verdict on racism, saying the trial was “of course” about race (Jabbari is white). “That guilty verdict … you might as well put that on my birth certificate,” he said.
At various points, he either denied or claimed not to remember giving Jabbari the injuries she reported to police. “There was no abuse,” Majors said, adding: “I wish to God I knew” how Jabbari got her injuries. He also confirmed that he plans to appeal the conviction.
And in a moment that’s gone viral on social media, he yet again brought up King. Only this time, he was referring to his semi-new girlfriend, actor Meagan Good, who accompanied him to the courtroom during his trial. “She’s an angel. She’s held me down like … a Coretta,” Majors said — a claim that has earned him predictable criticism.
Coretta Scott King was an activist in her own right and (contrary to popular perception) did not exist merely to provide comfort to her famous husband. When some Black men, like Majors, speak of wanting women in the mold of Michelle Obama or King, it can often sound as if they’re looking for props to keep at their side rather than human beings with their own agency.
In fact, Bernice King, one of King’s daughters, said as much in a recent social media post, apparently in response to Majors:
Watching Majors’ sniffle and stammer his way through his interview, I felt like I was watching someone perform contrition and introspection without actually offering either. No one should be surprised by that. After all, Jonathan Majors is a very talented actor.