Peloton has taken down a viral ad featuring Chris Noth from its social media accounts after sexual assault accusations against the actor surfaced on Thursday.
Two women under the pseudonyms “Zoe” and “Lily” alleged that they were assaulted by the “Sex and the City” actor in a report published this morning. The alleged incidents took place in 2004 in Los Angeles and 2015 in New York.
“Every single sexual assault accusation must be taken seriously,” Peloton said in a statement to media. “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 advertisement is no longer available through Peloton’s official YouTube, Twitter or Instagram accounts.
The 30-second commercial debuted on Sunday, three days after the first two episodes of “Sex and the City” sequel series “And Just Like That…” debuted on HBO. The premiere episode concluded with the death of Noth’s character Mr. Big, Carrie Bradshaw’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) longtime love interest. While riding a Peloton exercise bike, the character suffers from a heart attack and dies shortly thereafter.
Peloton capitalized on the outraged the episode sparked on social media by churning out the ad 48 hours later.
Narrated by Ryan Reynolds, whose marketing company Maximum Effort also produced it, the ad features Noth and a female companion sitting on a couch, coyly discussing plans to “take another ride” on the stationary bike behind them. After listing the health benefits of stationary cycling, the commercial tips its hat to the show by saying “He’s alive.”
Noth “categorically denied” the allegations to the Hollywood Reporter. “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,” he stated. “The encounters were consensual.”
