The U.S. Army has pulled from the airwaves two recruitment commercials featuring Jonathan Majors, in the wake of the film actor being arrested for alleged assault.
The commercials — which represent the Army’s first re-brand since 2001, and which were in heavy rotation during March Madness basketball coverage as recently as Saturday night — featured the star of Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as both a narrator and central figure, traversing through battle scenarios.
Majors was arrested in New York this past Saturday on charges of assault and harassment, following what has been described as a domestic dispute with an unidentified 30-year-old woman. Police had responded Saturday morning to a 9-1-1 call in Chelsea and took Majors into custody without incident, while the alleged victim, who had sustained minor injuries, was taken to a local hospital.
An attorney for Majors issued a statement on Sunday claiming he “is provably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows” and who was in the midst of “an emotional crisis.” The lawyer claims that there is evidence to support Majors’ innocence, including a written recantation from the woman he had been with.
Nonetheless, for the time being the Army’s ads featuring Majors have been shelved.
“The U.S. Army is aware of the arrest of Jonathan Majors and we are deeply concerned by the allegations surrounding his arrest,” the public affairs chief for the Army Enterprise Marketing Office said in a statement. “We recently released two ads in which Mr. Majors appears. While Mr. Majors is innocent until proven guilty, prudence dictates that we pull our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete.”
