Peloton and Ryan Reynolds Scrub Viral Commercial Amid Chris Noth Sexual Assault Allegations

By Daniel S. Levine

Ryan Reynolds and Peloton deleted all traces of the viral commercial starring Sex and the City actor Chris Noth after The Hollywood Reporter published interviews with two women who accused Noth of sexual assault. The alleged incidents happened in 2004 and 2015. Noth denied the allegations. [Please Note: The following story contains graphic depictions of sexual assault.]

Noth appeared in the premiere episode of the Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That on Dec. 9. In the episode, his character, Mr. Big, died because he suffered a heart attack after exercising on a Peloton stationary bike. On Sunday, Peloton released a commercial featuring Noth, claiming Mr. Big did not really die. Reynolds narrated the commercial, which also starred Peloton instructor Jess King. Reynolds' Maximum Effort marketing company produced the ad. The commercial cost $80,000 to produce and quickly went viral.

After the allegations against Noth were published, Peloton, Maximum Effort, and Reynolds deleted the commercial. "Every single sexual assault accusation must be taken seriously," Peloton spokesperson told THR Thursday. "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."

On Thursday, THR published interviews with Zoe, 40, who works in the entertainment industry, and Lily, 31, who is now a journalist. Both women used pseudonyms. Zoe alleged that she was assaulted by Noth in 2004 when she had an entry-level position at a Los Angeles firm where Noth and other celebrities frequently visited. She accused Noth of raping her at his apartment in West Hollywood. Zoe said she was hospitalized and spoke with police officers, but she was worried they would not believe her if she told them who her rapist was. Zoe was 22 at the time of the alleged assault.

Lily accused Noth of assault in New York in 2015 when she was 25. Noth invited her to dinner, after which he took her to his Greenwich Village apartment. The actor had "sex with me from the back in a chair," Lily told THR, adding that she felt "totally violated" and cried as it happened. Lily showed THR text messages she exchanged with Noth in March and April 2015.

Noth denied the allegations and said the encounters were consensual. "The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false," the actor said. "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."

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

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