Actor Jeremy Renner accused of misconduct by Chinese film director Yi Zhou

Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner has denied a series of allegations made by Chinese film-maker Yi Zhou on social media over the past week.

Zhou, 37, had accused Renner of sending her explicit photos, threatening to report her to the immigration authorities and exhibiting disturbing behaviour during a meeting that forced her to lock herself in a room.

Renner’s representative told American media outlets such as People and Variety that “the allegations are totally inaccurate and untrue”.

Renner, 54, is best known for playing the superhero Hawkeye/Clint Barton in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

In a series of social media posts which began last week, Zhou said Renner had contacted her in June.

“Mr Renner first contacted me directly in June, sending personal and intimate photographs of himself, behaviour that, according to public reports, he has exhibited before,” she wrote on Nov 3. “He convinced me of his sincerity, saying he had been single for a long time and was open to a long-term relationship.”

Zhou wrote that Renner later entered into written agreements with her Italian production company to collaborate on a documentary and an animated film.

“Yet, after the project’s release two weeks ago, he has refused to do any public promotion, despite our repeated pleas, public and private, for support,” she wrote, adding that Renner denied “any personal relation or professional collaboration” through fan accounts.

Zhou’s posts over the week included photos of Renner and screenshots of what appeared to be personal messages between them. The hashtag #canceljeremyrenner was included in many of the posts.

She also told British newspaper the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview published on Nov 6 that he had gone on drunken rants during a meeting that left her afraid.

“I had to lock myself in a room to be safe, praying he would not come into the room at night as he was really angry,” she said. “I did not say a word, I was so scared for my life.” 

American media outlet People said Renner’s legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to Zhou on Nov 7, demanding that she stop “defamatory communications” and refrain from republishing “false, fabricated and salacious lies”, threatening legal action otherwise.

Zhou countered on social media on Nov 8 that she had sent three cease-and-desist letters to Renner in the past week, calling on him not to make any false statements about her or her company.

Renner was in the news in early 2023 after a near-fatal accident in which he was

run over by a snowplough

. The actor has since largely recovered from the incident.