Jonathan Majors is, clearly, on a comeback tour. Unfortunately, this press run seems to be on the backs of Black women and it’s very obvious that the likes of Sherri Shepherd, Meagan Good, and women like them are ready and willing to be mules on his road to redemption.
I admit becoming enamored with Majors after his 2020 role in HBO’s “Lovecraft Country.” His 2021 performance in “The Harder They Fall” cemented, for me, his place in the zeitgeist of phenomenal Black actors. Simply put – he was the one to watch.
Early 2023 was no different. I applauded the “Civil Rights Fine” Black man who secured a Disney bag in the Marvel Universe, showed out in “Creed III,” and tapped into his sex symbol side on the February 2023 digital cover of Ebony Magazine. His charm, his redefinition of masculinity, and his seeming love and respect for women — particularly Black women – made him the ideal subject of admiration and support for many sistas — myself included.
Fast forward to late March 2023, when Majors made headlines after a domestic violence incident between him and his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, was made public. The release of audio in which Majors demands that this white woman should “be more like Coretta Scott King and Michelle Obama” to his imagined Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama highlighted, for me, the depth of the man’s narcissism.
Months later, Rolling Stone released a story following its 3-month investigation into Majors’ “extreme abuse” of romantic partners, coworkers, and crew workers on various sets citing that “many describe Majors as being a complicated, unpredictable, and sometimes violent man, who can switch from charming to cold in a flash.”
It is not lost upon me that Majors’ sudden public romantic relationship with Good — a beloved Black actress whose Hollywood coattails he could ride back into prominence — during his subsequent domestic violence trial and misdemeanor conviction would be regarded as his re-dedication to Black women. I just, naively, hoped that we would not be so easily swayed into welcoming an abuser back into our good graces with open arms.
I was wrong.
Last week alone, while on the press run for his new film and despite audio recently being leaked in which Majors admits to “aggressing” (read: strangling) his ex, Good reportedly tied the knot with the convicted abuser. The Breakfast Club” spent an hour letting Majors be a general weirdo and not truly taking him to task, Whoopi Goldberg came out in support of his career; and comedian-turned-talk show Shepherd welcomed him as a guest on her show.“
Shepherd, who recently found herself giving “auntie advice” to Megan Thee Stallion about her outfit choices being “too revealing” and a “bad example” for younger women, found the audacity to be “moved to tears” by Majors’ latest film portrayal, even going so far as to juxtaposing it to her own son.
Being willing participants in the rebrand of a serial abuser is nasty work, but considering these are the generations of women that still proudly bump R. Kelly’s music, believe Bill Cosby tried to buy NBC, and call girls who are preyed upon by older men “fast” – I’m not surprised.
Is Jonathan Majors beyond redemption? Should he be cast aside into the shadows never to be heard from again? No. But, he also should have to do more than 52 weeks of domestic violence intervention and invoking God and church tropes in interviews while serving up convoluted word salad in an attempt to skirt around accountability.
Considering that studies show that women who are strangled by a partner - even once - are at an increased risk of homicide by that partner by more than 600 percent, actual contrition via a full and transparent acknowledgment of the violent behavior should be the bare minimum. Unfortunately, when women like Good, Shepherd and Goldberg decide to be enablers to this caliber of men, we are certain to never even get that.