Army pulls ‘Be All You Can Be’ commercials after Jonathan Majors’ arrest
The actor was arrested Saturday on charges of assault.
The U.S. Army is pulling two new recruitment ads from the air after the star of them, actor Jonathan Majors, was arrested Saturday for assault in a domestic dispute. The two ads, “Overcoming Obstacles” and “Pushing Tomorrow,” were the centerpiece of the Army’s revived “Be All You Can Be” campaign.
The Army confirmed the pause on those ads today but said that the wider “Be All You Can Be” campaign is continuing. The move comes after Majors, 33, was arrested on March 25 . The victim, a 30-year-old woman, had “minor injuries to her head and neck,” according to the New York Police Department. Majors was arrested on charges of assault, harassment and strangulation, per the NYPD. He has since been released from custody.
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“The U.S. Army is aware of the arrest of Jonathan Majors and we are deeply concerned by the allegations surrounding his arrest,” Laura DeFranciso, a spokesperson for Army Enterprise Marketing Office said in a statement shared with Task & Purpose. “We recently released two ads in which Mr. Majors appears. While Mr. Majors is innocent until proven guilty, prudence dictates that we pull our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete.”
Majors’ representatives have denied the allegations, with his attorney Priya Chaudhry saying he is “completely innocent.” “We are quickly gathering and presenting evidence to the District Attorney with the expectation that all charges will be dropped imminently,” Chaudhry wrote in a statement, per the Hollywood Reporter.
Majors recently appeared in the films Creed III and Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania, as well as the military biopic Devotion.
The Army officially brought back “Be All You Can Be” at the start of March, part of a new recruitment initiative after the service branch failed to meet its recruitment goals in 2022. The two ads feature Majors as an on-screen narrator, discussing the history of the Army. The launch included an event at the National Press Club on March 8 featuring Majors, as well as Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston.
DeFranciso clarified that although the two ads featuring Majors have been paused, it is not “pulling all things ‘Be All You Can Be’ — the campaign includes many other marketing assets that don’t feature him.” The Army currently has marketing tie-ins with the ongoing NCAA March Madness tournament, including on-air and digital ad components as well as on-site events at the games.
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