Earlier in November, allegations came out against Hawkeye and Avengers star Jeremy Renner from filmmaker Yi Zhou. The filmmaker posted the accusations on Instagram, and also shared them in an interview with the Daily Mail. Zhou claimed Renner approached her by sending her explicit photos of himself. She also claimed she had feared for her life during a reported encounter in Renner's home.
Furthermore, the filmmaker alleged Renner had threatened her with calling ICE on her. Shortly after the accusations were made public, a representative for Renner denied them. Now, according to Deadline, Renner's lawyer, Marty Singer, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Zhou. In the letter (via Deadline), Singer stated:
"You have no personal relationship with my client other than an extremely brief and entirely consensual encounter on only one occasion in July 2025."
Singer also claimed Renner only agreed to participate in Zhou's Disney documentary, Masters of Cinema 2: Chronicles of Disney, but never agreed to be part of her AI film, Stardust Future: Stars and Scars (via Deadline):
"My client graciously agreed to support your career by appearing in your documentary about Disney. We have since learned that you are also falsely claiming that my client supposedly narrated an entirely AI generated animated film. My client has no knowledge of and did not willingly participate in any AI generated animation or other project with you, other than her (sic) Disney documentary. Please take notice that if you continue to exploit my client's name, likeness or voice in connection with any entertainment project other than the Disney documentary for which he was interviewed on July 12, 2025, you will be exposed to multi-millions of dollars in liability for commercial misappropriation of my client’s valuable rights of publicity."
He also warned Zhou that her "continued threats" would result in legal action taken against her, including a restraining order.
Deadline reached out to Zhou, who claimed Renner was the one harassing her. She further stated that, despite Singer's claims, upon his involvement in the Chronicles of Disney project, Renner signed a Talent Release Form on September 15 for a project, "tentatively titled Masters of Cinema 2: Chronicles of Disney and all promotional, derivative, or related works derived from it." According to Zhou, Stardust Future is considered a "Part 2" evolution of Chronicles of Disney.
The filmmaker further told Deadline that she had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Renner in October over the matter of the film. The outlet states it was shown a document claimed to be the Talent Release mentioned with what seems to be a "JR" signature. However, Deadline cautions it was unable to verify whether or not it was legitimate.
Renner's purported involvement in the project was reported by Variety in October 14, 2025. According to the report, Renner was claimed to be playing the Oracle of Time, the movie's narrator, "who leads audiences through a story spanning from the universe's origins to 2080."
Singer, on the other hand, claims that the Hawkeye actor and Zhou only discussed Renner working on the documentary: "Jeremy did one interview and was only informed that the interview would be for the documentary."
The lawyer told Deadline that they are unsure about whether Renner's voice in Stardust Future was generated by AI from his role in Chronicles of Disney. Zhou, however, denies this, telling Deadline: "We cannot use AI to [replicate] a person's voice without consent, it is against the law."
According to Deadline: "Sources close to Renner’s team say they were blindsided when the Stardust Future announcement went public last month." For her part, Zhou told the outlet that she had not falsified any documents on the matter: "AI is used in the creative and visual aspects of my work only. Under no circumstances can AI be used to generate screenshots or signed contracts, no AI app allows that. Doing so would constitute falsifying documents, it would be illegal."
TMZ also claims to have read Singer's cease-and-desist letter. According to the site, Singer claims Zhou was the one to have sent Renner "hundreds" of explicit texts, "demanding sex" from him.
The site also reached out to Zhou, who reportedly told TMZ that, over the last month, she had submitted three cease-and-desist letters against the Marvel actor. TMZ reports it read the alleged letters, stating: "Zhou again accuses Renner of sending her messages of 'sexual or suggestive nature' and requesting similar content, causing her 'discomfort and distress.'"
According to TMZ, Zhou reportedly requested for Renner to stop spreading false information about her, and stop threatening her and trying to blackmail her.