Armie Hammer denies he’s ‘100 per cent a cannibal’
Armie Hammer. (Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb)
Armie Hammer has quit from his role in an upcoming film with Jennifer Lopez amid “vicious and spurious online attacks” that included claims he is “100 per cent a cannibal”.
The Call Me by Your Name star went from memes about him eating peaches to, er, people as graphic Instagram direct messages allegedly written by Hammer went viral Monday (11 January).
The claims were first levelled by Instagram user “House of Effie” and outlined a series of lewd sexual fantasies, including references to rape, violence and cannibalism.
As a result, Hammer announced Wednesday (13 January) that he has dropped out of action-comedy Shotgun Wedding and his role will now be recast.
“I’m not responding to these bulls**t claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for four months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic,” Hammer wrote in a statement to Variety.
“Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that.”
“Armie has requested to step away from the film and we support him in his decision,” a representative of the production said.
Armie Hammer wanted to ‘cut off girlfriend’s toe’ and call her a ‘slave’, grisly cannibal messages allege
The explosive batch of messages, which have not been proved legitimate, were allegedly sent to both House of Effie and other women, the user claimed, and were sent between 2016 and 2020.
In one message, he allegedly wrote to one woman in the unverified messages that he is “100 per cent a cannibal” and “desired to drink your blood”. In another, he allegedly asked a woman to “live and obey and be my slave”.
Armie Hammer speaks onstage during the 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
“I will own you. That’s my soul. My brain. My spirit. My body. Would you come to be my property till you die?” the message allegedly from Hammer said.
“If I wanted to cut off one of your toes and keep it with me in my pocket so I always had a piece of you in my possession?
“I feel like the same way you are on one side of the slave spectrum, I am on the other side of the master spectrum and I can’t ever imagine another slave.”
In a 2013 interview with Playboy, The Social Network star said he was a “dominant lover” who liked “grabbing women by the neck and hair”.
But after marrying his since-estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers, his sexual interests changed. “It gets to a point where you say, ‘I respect you too much to do these things that I kind of want to do,'” he said.
