Jonathan Majors is at the center of a new flashpoint around Run Hide Fight: Infidels, the Daily Wire action thriller sequel that begins streaming Sept. 16 on DailyWire+.
In a first look at the film, Majors’ character, retired Delta Force officer Clay Saunders, addresses a packed university auditorium with an expansive denunciation of Islam. The scene is part of a movie written and directed by Kyle Rankin and produced by Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro and Dallas Sonnier.
Infidels follows Saunders as he battles Islamic terrorists who take over a liberal university and attempt to impose Sharia law. The Daily Wire is also hosting a handful of college campus screenings of the film and sponsoring some screenings for veterans around the country.
“There are three ways Islam will conquer the West,” Saunders says in the scene. “Through immigration, through the wombs of our women and by using our nation’s freedoms against us.”
As the speech unfolds, the sequence cuts among skeptical-looking students inside the auditorium, pro-Palestinian protesters outside and armed Islamist militants elsewhere on campus preparing ammunition and explosives.
Saunders continues: “Islam is not consistent with the fundamentals of Western values. Freedom of speech? They do not stand for that. Separation of church and state? Forget about it. Women’s rights? No.”
The character goes further, saying, “They desire death as ardently as we desire life. They believe it is their right to take from you, to subjugate you, even to kill you. Horrific acts done to non-Muslims are not only allowed, but encouraged by Allah.”
The speech concludes with Saunders saying Islam’s “ultimate goal” is jihad. “We cannot run and hide from what is coming,” he says. “We have to fight.”
The film had already drawn accusations of Islamophobia after its trailer used footage of the Sept. 11 attacks and real-life pro-Palestinian campus protests. Journalist Mehdi Hasan described the project as “bigoted, Islamophobic and clichéd,” a characterization Shapiro rejected.
“How exactly does depicting ISIS implicate all of Islam?” Shapiro wrote in August.
The newly highlighted scene, however, has Majors’ character repeatedly speaking about “Islam” and “they,” without making a distinction between terrorists and the broader Muslim population.
After reviewing a transcript of the scene provided by The Hollywood Reporter, two American Muslim advocacy groups strongly criticized the film’s depiction of Islam.
“Run Hide Fight: Infidels is the anti-Muslim fantasy of Ben Shapiro and Daily Wire,” Sue Obeidi, senior vice president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council Hollywood Bureau, wrote in an email to THR. “The writers use old tropes filled with misinformation and disinformation to fuel the anti-Muslim machine. We hope audiences will see right through this and avoid wasting two hours they can’t get back. Its premise is actually more ridiculous than it is offensive.”
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Esq., national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also condemned the film.
“This idiotic propaganda masquerading as a film appears to be the latest sign that Ben Shapiro is increasingly desperate to save his company and completely out of touch with the American public,” Mitchell said. “What Mr. Shapiro also fails to realize is that hate is not a weapon you can carefully aim at only American Muslims. When hate against one community is acceptable, every community is at risk.”
Infidels arrives during Majors’ continued effort to rebuild his career following his 2023 conviction for misdemeanor assault and harassment involving former girlfriend Grace Jabbari. Marvel subsequently dropped the actor, who had been positioned as the studio’s next central villain, Kang the Conqueror.
Majors returned to theaters earlier this year in Magazine Dreams. With Run Hide Fight: Infidels, he is now attached to what is described as his most overtly political project to date.
The film’s next stage is already set: Run Hide Fight: Infidels will stream on DailyWire+ starting Sept. 16, alongside the planned campus screenings and veteran-focused sponsored screenings around the country.