Jeremy Renner orders filmmaker to stop spreading 'salacious lies'
Jeremy Renner has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Yi Zhou ordering her to stop sharing "false, fabricated and salacious lies" about him after she alleged she bombarded her with explicit photos.
Jeremy Renner has urged Yi Zhou to stop sharing "false, fabricated and salacious lies" about him.
The Chinese filmmaker alleged in a series of Instagram posts this week that the 54-year-old actor - who she said she worked with on the Chronicles of Disney documentary and an animated film - had sent a "string of unwanted / unsolicited pornographic images of himself" in direct messages and on WhatsApp in June, and that when she confronted him about the photos, he allegedly "threatened to call immigration/ICE" on her.
However, Jeremy's representative said: "The allegations are totally inaccurate and untrue."
The Mayor of Kingstown actor's legal team have sent a cease and desist letter to Yi, which demanded she stop "defamatory communications" and refrain from republishing "false, fabricated and salacious lies" or they will take legal action.
The letter, which has been seen by People magazine, claimed the filmmaker had "aggressively pursued a sexual/romantic/sexting relationship" with Jeremy and "has manufactured fake and outlandish claims...to generate publicity" for her projects.
The Hawkeye star's lawyer, Marty Singer, branded Yi's claims "false, outrageous and highly defamatory" and alleged she was retaliating after the actor "rejected her romantic advances" and declined to use his social media accounts to promote her projects.
The lawyer claimed the pair had met once in a Nevada hotel in July, where Jeremy was interviewed for the director's documentary before they shared a "brief consensual encounter".
According to Singer, they met for a second time in August but Jeremy hasn't spoken to Yi in over a month and has ignored the "sexually explicit messages expressing her love" she allegedly sent as recently as 24 October.
Addressing allegations about the threat to call ICE, he added: "[She] had been relentlessly harassing and threatening my client with hundreds of unsolicited and unwanted messages.
"The true facts are that Ms. Zhou has relentlessly and aggressively harassed and pursued my client for months with no reciprocation on my client’s part, other than a single brief encounter on July 12, 2025."
But the filmmaker told People magazine she had been "frauded by love" and insisted Jeremy had sent her “obscene photos without consent…for days," “forced himself on me the first day we met” and threatened to call immigration services.
Yi alleged she included the Hurt Locker star in her projects because he had "promised to me we were in an evolving love relationship."
She added: "I believe the Me Too movement is not over and we need to fight more."
