My initial reaction when I heard this was “damn. it’s come to this. going to work for the enemy.” 

But I had to stop and consider a few things. 1)Ben Shapiro and “the daily wire” are MY enemies. But they might not, or have ever been, Majors’ enemy. As excellent an actor Majors is, and despite him looking and coming across in his performances as every bit of a Black King, I actually have no idea what his politics are. I don’t know if anyone does.

Now, one might say that is how it *should* be, that it shouldn’t matter what an artist thinks socially or politically, and that type of information only gets in the way (either of the actor’s ability to play a role or the audience’s ability to accept it). I think if times were “normal”, I could *almost* buy that argument.

But these are not “normal“ times, and “The Daily Wire” is not a normal media outlet. It’s a vehicle for hardcore right wing conservative thought. And hate. Make no mistake. Ben Shapiro is anti-Black. He is a white supremacist. So anyone that thinks his media company is not reflective of that ideology is stupid or a fool. SOME people have the luxury of playing dumb or feigning ignorance. We do not. Every dollar Jonathan Majors earns with Ben Shapiro is the blood money of Black, Brown and oppressed and marginalized people all over the world. Jonathan Majors now has a Black wife. He presumably comes from a Black family. Maybe that doesn’t matter to him.

Or maybe it does, *and the man just wants to* ***work***. Jonathan Majors is an actor. Jonathan Majors is an artist. But Jonathan Majors also wants to *work*. And why wouldn’t he? They’ll all tell you that they love the art, and that may be true. But you also need to LIVE, so you need to be paid. And even now, look at the headline. The man was tried, convicted, and sentenced. And the media STILL won’t let us forget. And the so-called “mainstream liberal Hollywood“ has effectively blackballed him. I have NO doubt that Majors was on the cusp of major, MAJOR, stardom with the MCU. He has both the physical presence and acting chops to go toe to toe with EVERY actor in the MCU, and I couldn’t wait for it. And Disney took all of that away. 

Because he bent a white woman’s finger while trying to defend himself from her attacking him in the back of a cab.

So if the “liberal” entertainment industry refuses to cast him, and even people who WANT to work with him, don’t, for fear of reprisals to their own career, what IS Jonathan Majors supposed to do? If the definition of liberal is “willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one’s own”, well, Hollywood has made it clear that they neither respect, or accept, Jonathan Majors.

Let me be clear. I disagree with Jonathan Majors partnering with Ben Shapiro and “The Daily Wire”. I believe that by doing so, he is not only acting against his own interests, but my interests, and the interests of Black, Brown and other oppressed and marginalized people the world over. 

*But I can afford to.* 

Jonathan Majors looked around, and decided that he couldn’t afford **not** to. And that’s sad for a lot of reasons.

A few thoughts about Jonathan Majors