In wake of sexual assault allegations brought against Chris Noth (Sex and the City, Law and Order), the actor was fired from his role on CBS’ The Equalizer, according to Deadline. Sunday, Jan. 2 was Noth’s final episode as William Bishop on the series starring Queen Latifah. Deadline attempted to reach CBS to comment on his departure, but they did not respond.
Noth has been accused of sexual assault by five women now, these allegations first arising when two women went to The Hollywood Reporter back in December. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two women sought out the publication months apart from each other to detail the alleged attacks in 2004 and 2015. The women say they are coming forward now because of Noth’s appearance in the Sex and the City revival as his womanizer character, Mr. Big.
“Seeing that he was reprising his role in Sex and the City set off something in me,” one of the women told The Hollywood Reporter. “For so many years, I buried it.”
Noth sent The Reporter a comment after they reached out to him. Further attempts by ABC News to get in touch with his publicist and the attorney who is listed as representing him for comment have failed.
“The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. 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,” Noth said in his statement.
Zoe, a pseudonym given to her by The Reporter, said that she was working for a firm in Los Angeles that frequently worked with Noth and other Celebrities. Zoe says that Noth would often walk by her desk and flirt with her. He even supposedly would leave her flirtatious voicemail messages that she would then show to her former boss. Zoe’s former boss said that while she found these messages “odd,” she did not see them as “alarming.”
“This was peak Sex and the City,” she said. “He was like a god to us.”
As the relationship progressed, Zoe claims that Noth allegedly invited her to his apartment for a pool party one day and Zoe alleges there he raped her.
“It was very painful and I yelled out, ‘Stop!’” she said. “And he didn’t. I said, ‘Can you at least get a condom?’ and he laughed at me.”
Lily, yet another pseudonym, recalled her story from 2015 as she was a server in the now-closed New York club No.8. Being a self-proclaimed fan of Noth, she was excited to see him come in and begin to flirt with her. She said that he asked her out on a date, and after that night, they went to his Greenwich Village apartment where Lily alleges Noth forced himself on to her.
Both women sought counseling after these incidents. Zoe even sought counseling at a rape crisis center. This center confirmed her stay to The Hollywood Reporter.
These allegations prompted actor Zoe Lister-Jones (Life In Pieces, How It Ends), who worked with Noth while he was starring on Law and Order and she was a guest star, to speak up on social media.
“Last week, my friend asked me how I felt about Mr. Big’s death on And Just Like That, and I said, honestly, I felt relieved,” she wrote. “He asked why and I told him it was because I couldn’t separate the actor from the man, and the man is a sexual predator,” Lister-Jones said.
According to ABC News, The Los Angeles Police Department has not opened an investigation into Noth and sheriff Capt. Richard Ruiz confirmed that the special victims bureau of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has also not opened a case investigating him.