Jonathan Majors: Creed III actor arrested on assault charges

(BBC) — Creed III actor Jonathan Majors has been arrested on strangulation, assault and harassment charges.

The New York Police Department said Majors, who stars alongside Michael B Jordan in the recently released film, was involved in a domestic dispute with a 30-year-old woman on Saturday.

“The victim informed police she was assaulted,” a police spokesperson said.

Majors was briefly taken into custody. A lawyer for the 33-year-old actor denied any wrongdoing.

The NYPD said they were called around 11:14 local time after receiving a 911 call from an apartment in Manhattan’s Chelsea district.

They added the woman suffered minor head and neck injuries and was taken to hospital.

He was released from custody by Saturday night, an NYPD spokesperson told the Associated Press news agency.

In a statement obtained by the BBC, Majors’ lawyer said the actor was “completely innocent” and alleged the star was the victim of the altercation involving a woman known to him.

Priya Chaudhry said: “We are quickly gathering and presenting evidence to the District Attorney with the expectation that all charges will be dropped imminently.

“This evidence includes video footage from the vehicle where this episode took place, witness testimony from the driver and others who both saw and heard the episode, and most importantly, two written statements from the woman recanting these allegations.

“All the evidence proves that Majors is entirely innocent and did not assault her whatsoever.”

Majors’ arrest comes just weeks after the actor presented an award at the Oscars.

His career took off after breaking through in 2019’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco, before going onto to star in Netflix western The Harder They Fall and Marvel Comics film Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.

Majors plays Jordan’s adversary in Creed III, a boxing film released earlier this month.