Chris Noth Peloton ad suspended after sexual assault allegations
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
Peloton has pulled an ad featuring Chris Noth in the wake of sexual assault allegations against him.
“Every single sexual assault accusation must be taken seriously,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement provided to CNN. “We were unaware of these allegations when we featured Chris Noth in our response to HBO’s reboot. As we seek to learn more, we have stopped promoting this video and archived related social posts.”
Noth has denied allegations of sexual misconduct against him which were published in a report Thursday by The Hollywood Reporter.
Two women, who used pseudonyms in the THR story to protect their privacy, accuse Noth of sexually assaulting them. The alleged incidents occurred in 2004 in Los Angeles and 2015 in New York, respectively. The women said Noth reprising his role as Mr. Big in the HBO Max series “And Just Like That…” motivated them to come forward.
“The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women,” Noth said in a statement to CNN.
HBO Max is owned by CNN’s parent company.
In the debut episode of “And Just Like That…” Noth’s character – which he first made famous on “Sex and the City” – suffers a heart attack and dies shortly after riding a Peloton bike.
The scene shocked many viewers and the company responded with the ad after the company’s stock reportedly dropped.
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CNN’s David Goldman contributed to this report.