Over the last ten days, Manhattan jurors have heard harrowing assault allegations against Jonathan Majors, a Marvel actor who was on a meteoric rise to superstardom before prosecutors claimed he attacked his ex-girlfriend in a chauffeured car in March.
But as jurors head into deliberations Thursday to decide whether Majors should be convicted of misdemeanor charges, the actor has an unlikely cohort of online supporters who are fighting to clear his name: Johnny Depp trial watchers.
“Jonathan Majors needs the same energy ya'll gave Johnny Depp!!!” one user said on X, also known as Twitter, as prosecutors began their closing statements. (Last May, the same user posted in support of Depp and slammed “all lying ass bitches.”)
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In Depp’s own civil defamation trial in April 2022, he was awarded a total of $15 million in damages after accusing Amber Heard of “devastating” his career with a 2018 Washington Post op-ed where she described herself as a domestic violence survivor and urged other women to come forward. Heard also received $2 million in damages in her countersuit against her former husband.
Throughout the televised trial, both Depp and Heard surfaced disturbing allegations of sexual and physical violence. Meanwhile, a legion of online Depp fans became a force in their own right, churning out derogatory memes of Heard and her legal team, praising the actor, and picking apart the abuse allegations. (The Aquaman actress also cultivated a following of her own, which regularly fought with Depp advocates and stressed the danger of victimizing abuse survivors.)
Now, some of the online fanatics who rallied behind Depp are defending Majors, who prosecutors allege engaged in a “cruel and manipulative pattern of abuse” against his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari throughout their two-year relationship.
As of Thursday morning, there are about 75,000 views (and counting) on Tiktok under the hashtag #JusticeForJonathanMajors, which has also been included in hundreds of posts on X. (The #IStandwithGraceJabbari hashtag is not currently tracking a view count on Tiktok. Still, Jabbari does have a group of supporters, who also often compare the abuse she is receiving to what Heard endured during the trial.)
Majors, 34, is facing four misdemeanor charges in Manhattan criminal court for the alleged March 25 attack against Jabbari. Majors’ defense team denies all allegations of wrongdoing, stating in court that the Lovecraft Country actor is instead the real victim and that Jabbari herself was the attacker that night.
One X user and active member of the “Official Jonathan Majors Fan Club” told The Daily Beast that social media has been on fire since opening arguments began on Dec. 4, spurring him to make photoshopped images of the actor as the trial progresses. One of the photographs he shared with The Daily Beast depicts Majors in a Superman outfit. “I firmly believe that Jonathan Majors is completely innocent,” the user from Portugal said.
Katt Wagner, who closely watched Depp’s trial and believes he was falsely accused of abuse, told The Daily Beast that her interest in Majors’ case began shortly after he was arrested in March. Wagner, who goes by @mzmarcopolo online, has gained a large following of those eager to learn daily updates on Majors’ criminal case. While she said that the users engaging with her posts are not as aggressive as those she witnessed during the Depp trial, she is seeing people compare the two cases and critique Jabbari.
“With Amber Heard, some of that reaction became too visceral because of the memes of the trial,” she added. “With Grace, even though people have criticized her, there hasn’t been the same sort of virality. Just posts.”
Wagner added that unlike Depp’s case, which had years’ worth of evidence live-streamed during the trial, those curious about the Majors case are left to rely on court reports describing evidence in the courtroom. “By the time that description gets to the public, there are so many layers of interpretation,” Wagner, who believes Majors is innocent, said. “So I took it upon myself to create posts of all the evidence gathered so far, and what was shown in court, so followers could see the fuller picture.”
Other online backers of Depp are not holding back about their belief that Majors is the latest victim of an overzealous #MeToo movement.
During Jabbari’s four days on the stand, the 30-year-old choreographer tearfully described her relationship with Majors, the alleged March attack, and the moment she woke up to police officers inside her apartment. Jabbari also tearfully read texts from September 2022 between her and Majors, where the actor begged her not to seek medical attention for a head injury.
“I fear you have no perspective of what could happen if you go to the hospital,” Majors texted Jabbari. “They will ask you questions, and as I don’t think you actually protect us, it could lead to an investigation even if you do lie and they suspect something.”
But when video footage emerged of Jabbari running after Majors during the alleged attack, along with the chauffeur's testimony that Jabbari seemed to be the aggressor as the couple fought, and evidence that Jabbari partied after the incident, the Marvel actor’s supporters wasted no time comparing him to Depp.
“Grace Jabbari is the next Amber Heard,” one X user said on Dec. 7 as Jabbari was still on the stand, where she tearfully testified about her relationship with Majors. “A controlling toxic woman who will immediately try to destroy the famous man she’s with when the man tries to get out of the abusive relationship.”
Another commenter on Wednesday wrote, “First it was Amber Heard trying to ruin Johnny Depp with fake make up and lies, and now it’s grace jabbari trying to ruin Jonathan Majors life. Women keep getting away with these lies.”
For Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and entertainment lawyer, the concept that Depp supporters are now rallying behind Majors is not surprising. He noted that the two cases involve “A-list actors who were canceled after they were accused of domestic violence and who are using our court system to clear their names.”
“A lot of it is backlash against the MeToo movement and people who think cancel culture has gone too far,” he added. “Also, people love celebrities, and they’re harder to convict than ordinary people, whether it’s in the courtroom or court of public opinion.”
Rahmani added that there are clear differences in how Majors has handled his case. The biggest one, he said, is Major’s decision not to testify even after jurors heard a recorded conversation from September 2022 between him and Jabbari. In the conversation, Majors is heard calling himself a “great man” after telling Jabbari she needs to support him like Coretta Scott King and Michelle Obama championed their husbands.
“I’m surprised Majors didn’t take the stand, especially after the recordings were played,” the lawyer added. “The defense may be able to argue that Jabbari broke her finger by attacking Majors, but that doesn’t explain the cut behind her ear or finger marks on her neck.”
“The defense is going all in arguing that Jabbari was a liar because she went clubbing afterwards, but if the jurors believe her, they’ll convict,” he added.
And while the decision of Majors’ innocence is ultimately in the hands of the jury, it seems that he has won the support of many online—even among some Depp deniers.
Babette Arnold, an avid X user, told The Daily Beast that she firmly believes that Majors is innocent—even though she was a staunch Amber Heard supporter during the Depp trial. Throughout Majors’ trial, Arnold has been vigorously defending the actor and arguing with his haters on her account, named “Amber Heard/Jonathan Majors defense account.” Her vocal support of Majors, she said, has gotten her “ex-communicated” from the online Heard community.
“I received SO much anger from my old [Amber Heard] community friends,” she said. “It was a pile on. They trusted me for over a year, but lost ALL faith in me when I started supporting Jonathan Majors.”
“When Majors is found ‘not guilty,’ I hope they won’t decide it’s just because he’s a powerful male celebrity,” she said. “He isn’t Johnny Depp.”
