AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Actor Jonathan Majors was arraigned in New York City last week on several charges that he assaulted and harassed a woman. Majors has been emerging as a force in Hollywood. He's out right now in a big Marvel movie and "Creed III." Before he was arrested, I taped an interview with him last month for WEEKEND EDITION. Pop Culture Happy Hour also published an extended version of it days before his arrest. Joining me now to discuss the allegations against Majors is NPR culture correspondent Anastasia Tsioulcas.
Hi, Anastasia.
ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS, BYLINE: Hey there, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So a lot has happened since that interview aired. Can you catch us up on what's going on?
TSIOULCAS: Sure thing. So police here in New York City responded to a call late last Saturday morning for a domestic dispute between a 33-year-old man, who was Majors, and a 30-year-old woman. And at that point, the woman, who has not been identified publicly, told police she'd been assaulted. In a statement to NPR, the NYPD confirmed that police arrested Majors and that the alleged victim, quote, "sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to an area hospital in stable condition."
RASCOE: So has Majors made any public response?
TSIOULCAS: He's denied all the allegations through his lawyer, Priya Chaudhry. Chaudhry also told us it was Majors himself who called 911 over concerns for her mental health. And, Ayesha, Chaudhry also says the woman made a series of written statements taking back those allegations. This past Wednesday, Chaudhary gave us screenshots of a series of texts, and those texts are the purported statements that the woman sent to Majors. Now, I've got to note that in the screenshots that were given to us, the texts are undated, and neither the names of the sender nor the recipient are visible. And, of course, they came from Majors' criminal defense attorney.
RASCOE: And so it sounds like those texts have not been independently verified.
TSIOULCAS: No. This is all information coming from Chaudhry. According to Chaudhry these texts were sent to Majors just hours after he was arrested. And the person sending those texts appear to have written that they were assured by the authorities that Majors would not be charged, that they tried to grab Majors' phone during an argument, that they told police that he had not attacked them and that they did not support Majors being charged with any crimes.
RASCOE: So what do the police and prosecutors have to say?
TSIOULCAS: Well, the 911 call has not been released as of now. We filed a request to see the arrest report with the NYPD. That request was denied since this is still an active investigation. And similarly, the Manhattan DA's office told us this week that as this is an active and ongoing investigation, the DA had no further comment.
RASCOE: So, I mean, Majors has been a star on the rise. How is Hollywood responding to this arrest?
TSIOULCAS: Yeah. He very much has been. And so far in this case, Hollywood seems to be sitting tight and waiting to see just what happens next. For example, Marvel and Disney, who are behind "Ant-Man And The Wasp" and the rest of the Marvel Universe, have yet to make any statement about any of this. But there was some immediate fallout. Majors had been featured in a marketing campaign for the Army, and that was launched at the very start of the NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament. The Army pulled that campaign right away, saying it was deeply concerned by the allegations.
RASCOE: That's culture correspondent Anastasia Tsioulcas.
Thank you.
TSIOULCAS: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
