Peloton pulls ad featuring actor Chris Noth after he's accused of sexual assault
Peloton has pulled its new ad featuring Sex and the City star Chris Noth following allegations of sexual assault against the actor in an article published by The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.
The article describes the accusations by two women, who chose to be identified by pseudonyms, that Noth sexually assaulted them in separate incidents — one in 2004 and another in 2015.
In a statement to the publication, the actor denied he assaulted the women.
"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," Noth said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
"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," he added.
As of Thursday, Peloton's tweet with the Noth ad was taken down.
In a statement to NPR, Peloton said it was "not aware" of the allegations against Noth when it released the ad.
"Every single sexual assault accusation must be taken seriously. 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," a company spokesperson said.
The exercise equipment company created the commercial promoting the Peloton bike following the pilot episode of And Just Like That, the Sex and the City reboot.
In the first episode of the new series, Noth's character — Mr. Big — dies of a heart attack after taking a 45-minute Peloton class. The company quickly created a version of the ad that featured a very much alive Noth, ready for another ride on the bike.
Before the ad was taken down, it had been viewed more than 3 million times, according to Newsweek.
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