Prominent American exercise equipment company Peloton has pulled a viral ad starring Chris Noth amid sexual assault allegations brought against the actor.
The ad in question emerged online shortly after the premiere of “And Just Like That”, a revival of the comedy drama TV series “Sex and the City”, on HBO Max. In the first episode of the show, Noth’s character Mr. Big collapses and dies after a workout on a Peloton bike.
In the ad, produced by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort marketing agency, Noth is shown conversing with Peloton cycling instructor Jess King, who also appears in “And Just Like That”. Reynolds himself provides voiceover in the end, talking about the advantages of cycling and adding “He’s alive”.
According to Variety, Peloton has deleted the YouTube video of the ad and all social media posts related to it, with Reynolds also deleting his Twitter and Instagram post that promoted 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,” a Peloton representative told the media outlet in a statement. “As we seek to learn more, we have stopped promoting this video and archived related social posts.”
This week, Hollywood reporter shared details of allegations brought against Noth by two women who used pseudonyms Lily and Zoe, and who accused the actor of sexually assaulting them on two separate incidents.
Noth himself has denied the allegations, branding them as “categorically false” and insisting that the sexual encounters were consensual.