Peloton pulls Chris Noth’s viral ad after allegations of sexual assault

Peloton has retracted actor Chris Noth’s viral ad after two women alleged he sexually assaulted them in separate incidents.

In a statement, the company told CNBC that “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,” the statement added.

Actor Ryan Reynolds, who produced the ad via his production and marketing agency Maximum Effort, also deleted his posts promoting the video from his social media accounts. 

The separate incidents reportedly took place in Los Angeles in 2004 and New York in 2015, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Both women alleged Noth sexually assaulted them.

The two women, who chose to stay anonymous, shared their allegations separately to the Reporter, saying they were compelled to come forward after the “Sex and the City” reboot “And Just Like That” debuted and Noth reprised his role as John James Preston, or “Mr. Big.”

“Seeing that he was reprising his role in ‘Sex and the City’ set off something in me,” one of the accusers told the outlet. “For so many years, I buried it.”

She added, “I was feeling awful. Totally violated. All of my dreams with this star I loved for years were gone.”

The second woman said that after the alleged assault, a friend later brought her to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where they confirmed she had been sexually assaulted. She did not disclose the identity of her attacker at the time for fear of repercussions. 

Noth denied the allegations in a Thursday statement to The Hill, calling them “categorically false.”

“The encounters were consensual,” he said. “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.”

“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.” 

Before the ad was taken down, it had been viewed more than 3 million times, Newsweek reported.