Actor Jonathan Majors avoids jail time, sentenced to counselling for assault

Actor Jonathan Majors has been ordered to complete a year-long counselling program but avoided jail time Monday for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in a high-profile case that derailed the once-promising star's career.

The 34-year-old star of Creed IIIand other films had faced up to a year behind bars after he was convicted of misdemeanor assault by a Manhattan jury in December.

In court Monday, Judge Michael Gaffey sentenced Majors to conditional dischargeafter noting that both sides in the case agreed the charges did notwarrant jail time,given the actor was a first-time offender with no prior criminal record.

He said Majors must complete a 52-week, in-person batterer'sintervention program in Los Angeles, where the actor lives. He alsohas to continue with the mental health therapy his lawyers say he'sbeen participating in. Majors faces a year in jail if found inviolation of the terms, which also included a no-contact order withhis former girlfriend, Grace Jabbari.

Majors, dressed in all black and accompanied by his girlfriend,actor Meagan Good, declined to address the court and left thecourthouse without speaking to reporters.

His lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, said the actor did not want to makeany public statement that Jabbari could use against him in the civilsuit she's filed against the actor.

Majors, she added, is "committed to growing as a person" andwill complete any court-mandated programs "with an open heart"even as he maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.

"He's lost his whole career," Chaudhry said in court. "Thishas been the most challenging year of his life."

But Jabbari, fighting back tears as she addressed the court, saidMajors refuses to acknowledge his guilt and remains a danger tothose around him.

"He's not sorry. He has not accepted responsibility, " shesaid. "He will do this again and he will hurt other women. Hebelieves he is above the law."

Jabbari said Majors had made her believe the two were in a lovingrelationship, but, in reality, he isolated her from the rest of the world and cut her off from family and friends.

"I was so emotionally dependent on him," she said. "I became a different person around him small, scared and vulnerable."

'High-powered PR campaign'

Rather than acknowledge his actions, Majors has been openly critical of the court proceedings, launching a "high-powered PR campaign" that included a nationally televised interview, said Assistant District Attorney Kelli Galloway as she argued for a sentence of violence counselling for Majors.

Following the December guilty verdict, Majors was immediately dropped byMarvel Studios, which had cast him as Kang the Conqueror, a roleenvisioned as the main villain in the entertainment empire's moviesand television shows for years to come.

The conviction stemmed from an altercation last March in which Jabbari accused him of attacking herin the backseat of a chauffeured car, saying he hit her head withhis open hand, twisted her arm behind her back and squeezed hermiddle finger until it fractured.

Majors claimed the 31-year-old British dancer was the aggressor,flying into a jealous rage after reading a text message from anotherwoman on his phone. He maintained he was only trying to regain hisphone and get away from Jabbari safely.

Majors had hoped his two-week criminal trial would vindicate him. In a television interviewshortly after his conviction, he said he deserves a second chance.

But the California native and Yale Universitygraduate still faces Jabbari's civil suit, which she filed last monthin Manhattan federal court. Jabbari accuses Majorsofassault, battery, defamation and inflicting emotional distress,claiming he subjected her to escalating incidents of physical and verbal abuse during their relationship. The two met in 2021 on the set of Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,in which Majors played Kang.

Majors'lawyers have declined to respond to the claims, sayingonly that they are preparing to file counterclaims against Jabbari.

Marvel woes

The actor had his breakthrough role in 2019's The Last BlackMan in San Francisco.He also starred in the HBO horror seriesLovecraft Country,which earned him an Emmy nomination, and asthe nemesis to fictional boxing champ Adonis Creed in theblockbuster Creed III.

As for Marvel, a looming question remains whether the studio willrecast the role of Kang or pivot in a new direction.

Majors's departure was among a recent series of high-profilesetbacks for the vaunted superhero factory, which has earned anunprecedented $30 billion US worldwide from 33 films.