Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts
Anchor
Google PlayFor the past month, Jonathan Majors has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Majors was arrested in March and charged with several counts of assault and harassment in connection to a domestic dispute with a woman that took place in New York City. Following his arrest, his attorney Priya Chaudhry began releasing statements pledging her client’s innocence.
Usually in cases like this for celebrities, their camp opts for silence or releases a carefully worded statement crafted by their publicity or crisis team.
Complex reached out to Erik Bernstein, the president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management firm that provides solutions to salvage the reputation of both organizations and individuals during a publicity storm like this one. In Bernstein’s opinion, he believes the Majors situation was handled poorly by the actor’s team from the start.
“If there’s nothing you can say to help the situation, whether that’s due to ongoing legal concerns or because maybe there’s not a positive way to frame things, your best option is to try to avoid making more headlines than necessary,” Bernstein tells Complex, which he says is the opposite of what the actor’s attorney did. Chaudhry promised written statements from the victim and video evidence that she said would demonstrate the actor wasn’t at fault.
He added: “Majors’ attorneys came out very strong early on, and when you say we expect charges to be dropped soon and they aren’t, that’s saying something to the public.”
It was also reported that he has parted ways with talent manager Entertainment 360 and PR firm The Lede Company since the incident. Last week, there were reports that more women had come forward with abuse allegations, but the Manhattan District Attorney’s office declined to comment. “Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone,” Chaudhry told Variety following the reports. “We have provided irrefutable evidence to the District Attorney that the charges are false. We are confident that he will be fully exonerated.”
Another (less important) element of the conversation is whether or not the actor will be able to bounce back from this, with fans specifically speculating about his future within Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe as Kang the Conqueror. The studio, and the actor, have remained silent so far regarding his involvement in the upcoming projects. In contrast, Netflix found itself in the midst of controversy thanks to a resurfaced podcast clip of their show Beef’s star David Choe. In the 2014 clip, Choe tells a story about forcing a masseuse to perform sexual acts on him, which he later said he fabricated. Choe and Netflix have remained silent, but his costars and the show’s creator released a statement addressing the situation last week.
Bernstein believes that as long as a star produces money for the studios, there can be a chance for redemption. “Particularly when it comes to entertainment and sports, there’s a road back,” the expert says. “If you can get things cleared up and if you can continue to either perform to a level where you’re bringing in money…it is possible.”
While a victim’s well-being is of the utmost importance in these scenarios, observing how a crisis is handled from a publicity standpoint also shows us how society and the public react to people who have been accused of violence. Complex hopped on a call with Bernstein to discuss what his role is amid a PR crisis, the Jonathan Majors situation, and how social media has impacted the work he does.
