Accusations Chris Noth was “sexually inappropriate” and “drunk” on the set of “Law & Order” made by actress and director Zoe Lister-Jones are “false and desperate,” a source close to Noth tells TheWrap.
Lister-Jones, who worked with Noth in 2005 when he starred in the “Law & Order” franchise, posted a statement on Instagram Thursday saying he was “drunk on set.” The actress and director also said she worked at a club Noth owned early in her career, and he was “consistently sexually inappropriate.”
In a statement to TheWrap Friday, a source close to Noth suggested Lister-Jones posted her statement in a bid for attention.
“This is just false and a desperate attempt to insert herself into the narrative,” the source said. “To allege he was drunk on the set of ‘Law & Order’ is also false.”
Lister-Jones said in her post she was glad Noth’s “Sex and the City” character Mr. Big was killed off the HBO Max sequel series “And Just Like That…”
“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. 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 began. “My friend was alarmed at my word choice. And to be honest, so was I. I hadn’t thought of this man for so many years, and yet there was a virility to my language that came from somewhere deep and buried.”
She continued, “In my twenties I worked at a club in NY that Chris Noth owned and on the few occasions he would show up, he was consistently sexually inappropriate with a fellow female promoter. That same year I was a guest star on ‘Law and Order’ and it was his first episode after returning as a detective after ‘SATC.’ He was drunk on set.”
Since she uploaded the five-page statement, Lister-Jones has gotten support from several actresses.
Michelle Monaghan replied to the post, “Thank you Zoe.” While Mary Elizabeth Ellis commented, “Feel this so much. And love you even more.” Former “Chicago P.D.” star Sophia Bush wrote, “Slide 3. That part,” referring to the third page of the statement.
Lister-Jones posted the statement just hours after The Hollywood Reporter published the accounts of two women who accused Noth of sexual assault; one incident was said to have happened in 2004 and the other in 2015.
Noth denied the accusations, saying in a previous statement: “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.”
