Jeremy Renner was pictured for the first time since being accused of sending explicit photos and threatening to call ICE on Chinese filmmaker Yi Zhou.
The Marvel star, 54, was among the guests at amfAR’s second annual Las Vegas gala, held at the Wynn hotel on Friday.
The actor — who has vehemently denied Zhou’s, 47, explosive allegations — brushed off the claims and looked to be in good spirits as he smiled for photographers on the red carpet.
The Hurt Locker star sported a black suit and tie, with his hair gelled back for the night.
The actor was the recipient of the Philanthropic Leadership Award at the event, which was also attended by Ciara, Ava Max, Chanel Iman and more.
The event is an annual fundraising gala dedicated to raising money for amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.
Jeremy Renner, 54, was seen for the first time since being accused of sending explicit photos and threatening to call ICE on Chinese filmmaker Yi Zhou, as he attended the amfAR gala
The outing comes on the heels of his controversy with Zhou. The two collaborated on a documentary and an animated movie before Zhou accused Renner of sending her ‘intimate photographs’ and pornographic videos in an attempt to woo her.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Zhou claims Renner went on drunken rants that left her afraid, then threatened to ‘call ICE’ after they fell out.
‘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. I did not say a word, I was so scared for my life,’ she told Daily Mail.
She also posted her allegations on Instagram, claiming she had ‘lived with fear for my safety and deep distress.’
Renner pushed back, with his attorney Marty Singer firing a cease-and-desist letter obtained by TMZ, denying Zhou’s claims and warning of possible legal action.
According to the letter, Renner agreed to appear in Zhou’s documentary, Chronicles of Disney, but says their first meeting in July quickly turned uncomfortable when Zhou allegedly made a move on him.
Renner maintains there was a ‘brief consensual encounter’, per the letter.
Afterward, he says he made it clear in August that he was not interested in pursuing any further sexual relationship.
During a subsequent meeting, he placed Zhou in a guest bedroom to avoid any additional intimacy.
He further claims that Zhou continued to pursue him, sending ‘hundreds of explicit text messages’ and demanding intimacy, including during a car ride to the airport after their collaboration.
The Marvel star was among the guests at amfAR’s second annual Las Vegas gala, held at the Wynn hotel on Friday
The actor — who has vehemently denied Zhou’s, 47, explosive allegations — brushed off the claims and looked to be in good spirits as he smiled for photographers on the red carpet
Renner and Zhou collaborated on a documentary and an animated movie before she accused him of sending her ‘intimate photographs’ and pornographic videos in an attempt to woo her; She is pictured in October
The actor insists that, aside from the initial encounter, their relationship remained strictly professional.
He also alleges Zhou threatened to ‘harm him publicly’ unless he promoted her documentary and fabricated a romantic connection between them.
The letter warns that if Zhou does not cease spreading ‘false, fabricated and salacious lies,’ she could face significant legal consequences, including potentially millions of dollars in damages.
Singer also called Zhou’s claims ‘false, outrageous and highly defamatory.’
Singer added that Zhou was retaliating after Renner ‘rejected her romantic advances’ and did not promote her projects on social media.
In Zhou’s exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, she claimed Renner got drunk at a meeting about their film at his home and ‘yelled for two hours’, while she locked herself in the bathroom in fear.
‘I was discussing about the doc logistics, then he drank a bottle of wine alone and got angry and angry yelling for two hours,’ Zhou said.
‘I had to location share to my team, my parents and Disney colleagues in case something happens to me they know where I am.
Alleged texts with her Disney colleagues during the incident show Zhou calling Renner ‘violent’, but also replying ‘yes I should be ok’ when asked ‘Do you think you will be safe staying there?’
The documentarian shared what she said were her texts with colleagues during the August 20 incident in which she described Renner’s alleged drunken ranting.
‘Can you lock yourself in the bathroom? He sounds crazy,’ one co-worker wrote.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Zhou claimed Renner went on drunken rants that left her afraid, then threatened to ‘call ICE’ after they fell out
The alleged breaking point came after she privately confronted him about sending explicit photos, to which he reportedly threatened to call immigration on her, according to texts she shared to the Daily Mail. Zhou refused to provide the rest of Renner’s alleged cut-off message
‘I did lock hope he can’t open,’ Zhou replied. ‘I m [so] worried he yelled for 2 hours with one bottle of wine down alone.’
In her recent Instagram posts, Zhou claimed she had ‘lived with fear for my safety and deep distress.
‘It is with deep regret, sadness, and disappointment that I am compelled to share a truth I have been holding inside for too long,’ she wrote.
‘No woman, filmmaker, or creative should have to work under such emotional and psychological pressure while trying to protect her name and the integrity of her work.’
She accused the Hurt Locker actor of ‘misconduct’ in the post.
‘Mr Renner first contacted me directly in June, sending personal and intimate photographs of himself, behavior that, according to public reports, he has exhibited before,’ she wrote.
Zhou previously posted a picture of a man’s naked torso on her Instagram stories, and she told the Daily Mail it was a photo Renner sent her, unsolicited.
‘I have a collection of those photos and the porn gifs that he sent,’ she said.
Zhou shared with the Daily Mail a screenshot of a short porn video clip Renner allegedly texted her on WhatsApp in June, depicting a male and female porn actor in a sex scene, with an accompanying drooling emoji and the message ‘This ok ???’
‘He convinced me of his sincerity, saying he had been single for a long time and open to a long-term relationship,’ she wrote in her bombshell public posts. ‘I believed in him, in the power of love, and in the possibility of redemption.’
In her interview with the Daily Mail, Zhou said that Renner had approached her with sexual advances, worked with her professionally, then later denied their relationship.
‘I did not reach out to him, he pursued me,’ she said. ‘I didn’t even know his name, never watched a movie of his.
‘He used me and denied me and denied our work.’
Zhou (left) spoke to the Daily Mail about the claims she dished out on Instagram about his alleged ‘misconduct’ while they were in a romantic relationship
Fans had speculated about Zhou’s relationship with Renner after she posted videos on her Instagram in September of herself riding with him in his convertible car near his home in Reno, Nevada.
Last month she told the Daily Mail that she had been dating the actor.
But Zhou later slammed him in an Instagram posts for failing to publicly promote the two movies she made with him: a documentary about Disney workers called Chronicles of Disney in which he was a key interviewee, and an animated feature called Stardust Future for which he performed a voiceover.
‘When I called him out privately about his past misconduct and asked him to behave properly, to respect me as a woman and as a filmmaker, he threatened to call immigration/ICE on me, an act that deeply shocked and frightened me,’ the Chinese filmmaker wrote.
The Daily Mail obtained a screenshot of alleged WhatsApp texts between Zhou and Renner, in which she called him a ‘pig’, accusing him of using ‘apps to send d**k pix’, then adding ‘no one said anything – so far’.
Renner responded: ‘Immigration will be notified of your-‘ with the rest of the message cut off.
Zhou refused to provide the Daily Mail with the rest of Renner’s alleged text.
Representatives for Renner have not responded to the Daily Mail.
