The Jonathan Majors assault trial is hauntingly similar to Depp v Heard
The #FreeJonathanMajors comes years after the #JohnnyDeppisInnocent — and both came long before either one of their verdicts were in
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Marvel actor Jonathan Majors was on trial for the last two weeks over assault and harassment charges. Before the jury’s verdict was handed down, the verdict in the court of public opinion had long been decided, as social media users seemed to have made up their minds, just as they had in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard case.
On 18 December, Mr Majors was convicted on two counts — one count of assault in the third degree and one count of harassment in the second degree.
The case hinged on a March 2023 incident. Grace Jabbari, Mr Majors’ then-girlfriend, reportedly discovered texts sent to Mr Majors from another woman. An argument ensued, which culminated in the alleged assault in the back of a private car in New York City. The dancer informed police that she had been assaulted by her then-boyfriend and went to the hospital; he was later arrested and charged.
Throughout the trial, social media users repeatedly insisted that Mr Majors is innocent; there was even a hashtag called #FreeJonathanMajors under which users posted their support for the actor.
The question of guilt was ultimately up to the jury. In the court of social media public opinion, however, evidence and due process don’t seem to matter, as opinions on the case seemed to be made well before the trial was even finished.
“This Jonathan Majors case is turning into yet...another crazy ex-girlfriend matter. How many more of these in Hollywood do we need to go through?” one X user wrote.
Another described Jabbari as Majors’ “crazy, drunk, lying, gold-digging, girlfriend.”
“I hope Jonathan Majors get[s] that no guilty verdict shawty tried to end his career lol,” said yet another.
The knee-jerk defence of Mr Majors harkens back to social media users’ defence of Mr Depp.
Perhaps there has been no better example of trial-by-internet than Depp v Heard. Everyone seemed to have an opinion. From the case’s outset in April 2022, social media users were quick to paint Ms Heard as “a compulsive manipulating liar,” and “guilty” while a hashtag spread: #JohnnyDeppisInnocent.
On its face, the Jonathan Majors case appears similar to Depp v Heard. In reality, both boast one glaring similarity: the cases are centred around a woman accusing a famous actor of assault.
Both men are immensely famous, while their respective ex-partners are less well-known — a point that Ms Heard herself pointed out. Mr Majors and Mr Depp’s reputations online were likely buoyed by their fans’ devotion — even in the face of severe allegations.
However, there are several important distinctions to make between the two cases as well.
In Depp v Heard, Mr Depp brought the defamation suit against his ex-wife after she published a 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post titled “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” In the piece, she never referred to Mr Depp by name.
This brings up another significant point. While both cases related to claims of assault, Depp v Heard was a civil defamation case; Jonathan Majors faces criminal charges.
The Creed III actor also refused to testify, coming into sharp contrast with Mr Depp’s viral testimony, meaning his side of the story was only told through his defence attorney.
In yet another striking contrast, jury deliberations spanned roughly five hours in the Jonathan Majors trial compared to the more than 12 hours of deliberations in Depp v Heard.
Also, unlike Ms Heard, who countersued and partially won, Manhattan prosecutors’ charges against Ms Jabbari were dropped. Back in 2020, Mr Depp also lost a separate libel suit in the UK against The Sun over an article that claimed he was a “wife beater”; that case was determined by a judge who found the article’s contents to be “substantially true.” Despite that ruling years before the infamous he said-she said case in the US, social media users expressed strong support for Mr Depp.
In another striking difference, Mr Majors’ trial wasn’t livestreamed. However, some of the evidence, like an audio recording, video footage, and text messages were released to the public. Depp v Heard was broadcast, allowing users to scrutinise the actors’ facial expressions and reactions in real-time.
After the jury ruled in favour of the Pirates of the Caribbean star, a juror came forward saying the panel didn’t find Ms Heard “believable” and described her testimony as “crocodile tears.”
Given the jury’s verdict, Ms Jabbari seemed to escape this fate.