Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner is hitting back against filmmaker Yi Zhou amid escalating allegations regarding their professional and personal relationships.
Renner's legal team, led by prominent attorney Marty Singer, reportedly issued a cease and desist letter to Zhou last Friday, 7 November. The Hollywood actor is denying claims of a romantic relationship with Zhou and asserting that she aggressively pursued him, sending numerous explicit messages.
The letter outlines Renner's position, which counters Zhou's public assertions that he initiated intimate contact and sent sexual images.
Renner Issues Legal Warning Over 'Salacious Lies'
The dispute centres on a collaboration for Zhou's documentary, Chronicles of Disney. Renner maintains that while he did meet Zhou in July, the only physical contact was a brief consensual encounter at his residence in Reno, Nevada.
According to the cease and desist letter obtained by TMZ, when they met again in August, Renner made it explicitly clear he was not interested in pursuing a sexual relationship and placed Zhou in a guest bedroom during her visit to avoid further intimacy.
Renner alleges that despite his clear boundaries, Zhou continued to pursue him afterward, sending hundreds of sexually explicit messages and repeatedly pressuring him to enter a romantic or sexual relationship. Some of these purported messages reportedly contained graphic references to his anatomy and included detailed sexual propositions.
In addition, Renner claims Zhou attempted to coerce him into promoting her documentary by making it appear publicly as though they were romantically involved, a claim he categorically denies.
Renner's legal team further states that Zhou misrepresented their professional relationship in public statements and falsely asserted that he had participated in an AI-generated animated film project Stardust Future: Stars and Scars, to which he never agreed.
The actor's team has issued a stern warning that if Zhou persists in disseminating what they characterise as 'salacious lies,' she may encounter significant legal and financial repercussions.
Zhou's Counterclaims Add New Layers to Escalating Feud
Yi Zhou has publicly maintained a contrasting account.
In statements on her social media, she alleges that Renner was the one who pursued her, sending intimate images and making threats to involve the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a manipulative way. Zhou asserts that their early relationship fell apart rapidly, portraying Renner as the aggressor in their exchanges and alleging misconduct on both professional and personal fronts.
Zhou also has publicly shared on Instagram that she has sent official cease and desist letters to Renner and his representatives.
In the post she states the letters were prompted after she claims to have received unwanted sexual messages, alleged harassment and a misrepresentation of their working relationship. She asserts that Renner or his team's conduct caused her significant distress and discomfort, according to her public filing. The post emphasises that she will take legal action if the alleged harassment and defamation continue.
In a separate post, Zhou shared that multiple women have come forward alleging similar experiences of receiving pornographic content and inappropriate messages from Renner. Some of whom claim they were subsequently bullied or dismissed.
Zhou highlighted the solidarity among these women while emphasising their privacy, noting that their collective accounts reinforce her claims of misconduct.
