After Jonathan Majors and his team seemingly orchestrated the arrest of the woman he is accused of assaulting, one must ask just how big of a hole he and his team are planning to dig for him. Retaliation and interference in domestic abuse cases have become so normalized that Majors’ team seemingly thought that no one was going to question what they were doing.
Ever since March, when Majors was first arrested and charged with assault and harassment relating to a domestic incident with his then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, his legal team has not done him any favors. First, immediately after the arrest, his team released text messages from Jabbari that they claimed exonerated Majors. However, the messages were actually very concerning, as Jabbari’s texts read like a textbook example of a victim of domestic abuse who is self-blaming and experiencing gaslighting. Not only did the texts cast greater suspicion on Majors, but increased scrutiny on him and his team for so readily dismissing the idea of a victim being gaslit and advocating that probable self-blame be used as evidence.
Then, a day before Majors had one of his court appearances to determine a trial date for the charges against him, a video suddenly surfaced of him breaking up a fight. While unconfirmed, many suspect it was a publicity stunt to save his reputation. Of course, it immediately resulted in Majors and his team being ridiculed for allegedly pulling off this stunt. As if those two incidents weren’t bad enough, Majors and his team decided to get Jabbari arrested.
Jonathan Majors and his team seemingly orchestrated Jabbari’s arrest
When headlines suddenly arose that Jabbari had randomly been arrested seven months after the initial incident (while Majors was still facing charges of assaulting her), it wasn’t hard to see that something wasn’t right. Meanwhile, it quickly was established that Jabbari wasn’t facing any charges and was quickly freed. So, why was she arrested in the first place?
The arrest stemmed from a domestic violence complaint that Majors filed against Jabbari in June, claiming that she was the abuser in the domestic incident and had scratched and slapped him during the altercation. This was already a bad look for Majors and his team. Waiting three months after the original incident to suddenly try to turn the tables and paint Jabbari as the perpetrator before Majors is even cleared of wrongdoing himself is highly suspicious. Why would police actually go through with an arrest on such a suspicious complaint, one that could easily be seen as retaliation against a victim in a domestic abuse case? That’s a question we concerningly don’t have a full answer to.
The Hollywood Reporter broke down the confusing legal process that led up to Jabbari’s arrest. Apparently, prosecutors had informed the New York Police Department and Majors’ defense counsel that they were not prosecuting Jabbari and were closing the case in September. Yet, the NYPD has refused to explain why exactly Jabbari was still arrested after the prosecutors firmly told them months ago that they weren’t prosecuting her. It could be that an I-Card was opened due to Majors’ complaint being accepted. An I-Card basically alerts police that there’s probable cause for an arrest and can’t be closed until that arrest is made. However, the NYPD still needs to explain why that complaint was accepted and the I-Card generated, and why they didn’t do anything about it after being made aware of the prosecutor’s decision.
It’s also worth noting that Jabbari wasn’t “arrested”—she turned herself in to the NYPD, filled out some paperwork, and was quickly released. There are not and never were going to be any charges against her, and the arrest cannot legally be used during Majors’ trial. It essentially means nothing, which is why one civil rights and criminal defense attorney, Cary London, believes it was nothing—just a publicity stunt by Majors and his team. It’s quite clear that the arrest never should’ve happened, and Majors’ complaint never should’ve been accepted. The NYPD’s silence and Majors’ team’s statement thanking the NYPD for “corroborating” Majors’ account strongly suggest that this bizarre arrest was orchestrated by Majors and his team.
Majors’ reputation won’t recover from this stunt, and it shouldn’t
It’s easy to see why Majors and his team would orchestrate the arrest. Even if they knew it had no legal weight, they did get what they wanted—misleading and inciting headlines about Jabbari being arrested for domestic abuse. They wanted to destroy her reputation, paint Majors as the victim, and give sympathy-seeking statements about the “injustice” of how Majors is being prosecuted and Jabbari is not. However, they somehow didn’t account for how easy it is to see this was a phony arrest with no legal grounds whatsoever. Sure, there are going to be some incels and misogynists who will be ceaselessly sharing the arrest headlines and claiming it proves Majors is innocent and a victim of abuse. However, any rational individual is going to see how absolutely horrific and retaliatory it is that Majors and his team are interfering in this case to the point of orchestrating a fake arrest.
Majors and his team have successfully made him look terribly guilty and ensured his reputation will never recover. This incident makes us question what on earth he and his team are hiding that they’re going to these lengths to silence and discredit Jabbari. Meanwhile, even if Majors is proven innocent, that’s not going to clear him of wanting an innocent woman’s arrest to be paraded on the internet and desperately trying to spread misinformation. This incident makes it very clear that he doesn’t support victims and their right to a fair trial without fear of retaliation.
Some good that may come from this incident is how it raises awareness for what domestic abuse victims go through. It shows exactly how alleged abusers can so easily lie, launch smear campaigns, and twist the narrative to make a victim look guilty. We’re lucky this incident was so transparent because, if not, it could’ve been so much more damaging to victims, as everyone always latches on to the rare story of a victim allegedly lying to try to discredit all victims. What’s horrifying is that this retaliation is so rampant that Majors and his team lazily partook in it and very obviously thought they’d automatically get away with it. Majors’ story should serve as a cautionary tale about why we always believe victims unless we have absolute proof against them because there’s really nothing alleged abusers won’t do to save their own skin.
(Via THR, featured image: Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
