The Army says it’s pivoting after pulling recruiting commercials starring actor Jonathan Majors, who was arrested in New York City over the weekend in a domestic disturbance case.
Majors, known for his starring roles in the recently released “Creed III” and Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” narrated two commercials to be used in a $117 million ad campaign.
Organizers are now working to repurpose existing content before this week’s NCAA Tournament basketball games, Major General Alex Fink said.
“We are absolutely able to utilize a majority of what we have invested,” Fink, the head of marketing for the Army, told the Associated Press. “We think that we’ll have some brand new creative ads in time for the Women’s Final Four on Friday.”
Majors, 33, was arrested for misdemeanor assault, attempted assault and aggravated harassment on Saturday for an incident involving a 30-year-old woman, police said.
Following the arrest, the actor’s lawyer said his legal team is gathering evidence to prove Majors is “completely innocent and provably the victim.”
“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,” attorney Priya Chaudhry said in a statement.
Much of the content the Army acquired for its commercials did not feature Majors, Fink said. The Army postponed and updated ads in an effort to avoid losing money.
“We have a ton of content to go back to, to create basically new commercials, if we need to,” Fink said. “The campaign is full steam ahead.”