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The Jonathan Majors comeback tour hit a snag this week, after Keke Palmer pulled an interview with the actor and convicted domestic abuser for her podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer. The episode, which Palmer has been teasing for several days, was set to be released on April 8. However, after facing backlash, Palmer and her podcast network Wondery released an episode featuring rapper Kash Doll in its place. Majors’s interview has also been scrubbed from the podcast’s landing pages. So, what exactly happened here? Let’s dig into the controversy.
Why did Palmer have Majors on her podcast?
Majors’s appearance on Baby, This Is Keke Palmer seemed to be part of the actor’s extensive promo campaign for his recently released film Magazine Dreams. These press spots have doubled as a redemption tour following his misdemeanor domestic-violence trial and subsequent conviction for recklessly assaulting and harassing his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari.
Beginning with a Hollywood Reporter cover story last month — his first interview since being sentenced last year to a 52-week-long domestic-violence intervention program — Majors has talked at length about the impact the trial had on him, his desire to return to work full-time, and the life he’s created with his new wife, actress Meagan Good. (He has said he can’t directly address the domestic-violence case because he and Jabbari settled a defamation lawsuit she brought against him, which allegedly prohibits them both from speaking publicly about the assault.) Palmer’s interview would have presumably addressed the same narrative he’s been pushing: After all, the episode was titled “No Easy Answers: Accountability and Moving Forward With Jonathan Majors.”
What did Majors say in the interview?
We may never know. The interview’s description read, “Accountability. It’s a loaded word, right? We’re living in a time where we want real accountability — especially for things men have gotten away with for far too long. At the same time, finding forgiveness feels harder than ever, and we’re still figuring out what true accountability even looks like.” It promised a sit-down where Majors would address what life has looked like after being convicted of harassment and assault. “This conversation isn’t here to give you all the answers — it’s complicated, it’s messy — but hopefully, it brings us a little closer to understanding the complex emotional landscape of the time we’re living through,” the description continued.
The one teaser snippet of the episode available online didn’t touch on these issues, however. Instead, what it shows is Palmer and Majors laughing as they go through a lightning round of questions, including whether he’d rather star in a rom-com with his wife Good or a buddy comedy with his Creed co-star Michael B. Jordan. Before the clip cuts out, Palmer tells Majors, “You are amazing.”
How did people react to news of the episode?
Not well! People took issue with the fact that Palmer was offering a platform to someone who’s been convicted of assault and who was accused of physically and emotionally abusing at least three women. (Majors has denied all the allegations and claimed that he has “never hit a woman.”) Social-media users were particularly alarmed because Palmer herself revealed in November 2023 that her former partner, Darius Jackson, with whom she shares a child, was allegedly abusive throughout their relationship.
Additionally, some pointed out that after Majors’s THR cover came out, Rolling Stone published a previously unreleased recording in which the actor admits to strangling Jabbari and pushing her against a car.
Have Palmer or Majors talked about the episode being pulled?
Not so far. Majors, Palmer, and Wondery have not publicly addressed why the episode disappeared or whether it’ll be released in the future. We reached out to them for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
