Peloton Removes Viral Sex and the City Parody After Sexual Assault Allegations Surface About Actor

Peloton has taken down its viral parody video of the Sex and the City sequel after two girls got here ahead with sexual assault allegations towards Chris Noth, the actor who portrays the character Mr. Big and appeared within the firm’s video. Noth has denied the allegations and mentioned the sexual encounters have been consensual.

Peloton eliminated its “He’s Alive” video from its social media accounts and YouTube channel on the identical day the Hollywood Reporter printed a horrifying report about two girls who declare they have been raped by Noth in 2004 and 2015. The girls, whose identities weren’t revealed, informed the outlet that promotions of And Just Like That and media articles in regards to the present had introduced again “painful memories” of the purported incidents with Noth.

“[S]eeing that he was reprising his role in Sex and the City set off something in me,” one of many girls accusing Noth informed the outlet. “For so many years, I buried it.”

Gizmodo reached out to Peloton for touch upon Thursday however didn’t obtain a response by the point of publication. We’ll be sure that to replace this text if we hear again.

A Peloton spokesperson told the Hollywood Reporter on Thursday that it was not conscious of the sexual assault allegations towards Noth when it featured him within the parody video. Actor Ryan Reynolds, whose advertising firm, Maximum Effort, produced the video, additionally eliminated it from his Twitter account.

The firm is engaged on acquiring extra data.

“Every single sexual assault accusation must be taken seriously,” the spokesperson mentioned. “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.”

Noth informed the Hollywood Reporter the allegations towards him have been “categorically false.”

“The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false,” he mentioned. “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.”

Although Noth questioned the “timing” of the purported assaults, it needs to be famous that the 2 girls got here ahead with their allegations individually, at totally different instances (in August and October), and have no idea one another, in keeping with the Hollywood Reporter.

Peloton debuted the “He’s Alive” parody video on Sunday as a lightning-fast response to the premiere of the primary two episodes of And Just Like That, the HBO Max sequel present to Sex and the City, which dropped a bomb on followers when Mr. Big died after an intense exercise on a Peloton. The firm’s inventory dropped 11% after the episodes because the Peloton scrambled to manage the injury to its picture.

First, the corporate issued a statement from a heart specialist on its well being and wellness council affirming that Mr. Big’s demise was because of his “extravagant lifestyle,” including that using a Peloton probably helped “delay his cardiac event.”

Apparently feeling that wasn’t sufficient, Peloton launched the parody video “He’s alive.” The video options an alternate ending to Mr. Big’s story in And Just Like That. In this ending, Noth has seemingly left Carrie Bradshaw to be along with his (real-life) Peloton teacher and do extra Peloton exercises. I initially discovered the video, which acquired heavy media protection, to be hilarious and a very good response from Peloton. However, in mild of those allegations, it now makes me uncomfortable, though I’m reserving last judgement till we all know extra.

Overall, Peloton’s try and reclaim the narrative after the premiere of And Just Like That has ended up in catastrophe, although to be truthful it was by no fault of its personal. When you add that to the opposite woes on its record in 2021, which included a product recall, a lackluster monetary efficiency within the latest quarter, and folks going back to the gym, the brand new yr in all probability can’t get right here quickly sufficient for the corporate.