Queen Latifah, 51, is speaking out about the shocking sexual assault accusations against Chris Noth, which resulted in his firing from their show, The Equalizer, in an interview that was released on Jan. 24. The actress admitted that the “delicate situation” doesn’t feel real as the cast and the crew of the CBS crime series try to figure out what to do now that one of their main characters is no longer a part of it.
“It’s still surreal. It is such a dicey, delicate situation that requires a great deal of respect,” Queen Latifah told PEOPLE in a video interview on their show. “That’s a personal thing that he’s going to have to deal with.”
“We are figuring out what we want to do creatively on the show and how we’re going to deal with that character,” she added when talking directly about the series. “Chris’s character’s obviously a big part of the show and it was amazing chemistry, amazing chemistry. And my feeling is justice has to prevail regardless. I just want the right things to be done, you know?”
Queen Latifah and Chris, 67, have been filming The Equalizer together since 2020. She plays a former CIA operative named Robyn McCall and he played former CIA director, William Bishop. CBS released the statement about Chris’ firing from the show on Dec. 20. “Chris Noth will no longer film additional episodes of The Equalizer, effective immediately,” the statement said.
The allegations against Chris first showed up in an article in The Hollywood Reporter on Dec. 16. In the published piece, two women accused him of sexually assaulting them and one even claimed that he raped her. The woman, who went under the pseudonym Zoe, alleged that Chris raped her in her Los Angeles apartment in 2004 after they met at a high-profile firm that had ties to celebrities.
The other woman, who went under the pseudonym Lily, claimed Chris, who is also known for his role as Big on Sex and the City, sexually assaulted her after he invited her to his New York City apartment in 2015. She said they met when she was 25 and working as a server at a nightclub.
Shortly after the accusations went public, Chris denied them in a statement. “The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false,” he said in the statement. “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. 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.”
A third and fourth woman, including one who used the name Ava as well as singer Lisa Gentile, also went public with similar sexual assault accusations against Chris through the Daily Beast and in a press conference. Chris’ publicist denied the allegations from Ava, according to PEOPLE, but didn’t respond to Lisa’s.