Armie Hammer's Cannibal DMs May've Had Him Dropped From His Huge Talent Agency
Updated Feb. 7 2021, 2:51 p.m. ET
"How do straight white men react to other straight white men who are no longer acting how they believe straight white men should act?" Armie Hammer mused in a 2019 interview with the Independent.
Fast forward two years later, and the Call Me By Your Name actor isn't being congratulated for addressing white male privilege and tackling toxic masculinity. What's happened with Armie Hammer and his "cannibal" DMs has become one of the most salacious Hollywood scandals in recent years.
What happened with Armie Hammer that's caused so much controversy?
If you aren't up to speed on Armie's "cannibal DMs" controversy, then you're in for a wild ride. The Social Network star had private messages he had sent to women he was allegedly seeing — while still with now ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers, by the way — in which he stated he had a predilection towards "eating" his sexual partners. "I am 100% a cannibal. I want to eat you," he reportedly wrote in one text message conversation.
There were references to other acts of human consumption that came out in light of the controversy — and in the wake of the rumors, ex-girlfriends and other partners spoke up saying they believed the messages Armie sent were real. Jessica Ciencin Henriquez said as such and Courtney Vucekovich said in an interview with Page Six that "He said he wants to break my rib and barbecue and eat it. F*** that was weird."
It didn't help that the allegations came around the same time as Hammer's divorce from Elizabeth Chambers, who finally addressed the rumors in a carefully worded Instagram post, "For weeks, I’ve been trying to process everything that has transpired. I am shocked, heartbroken, and devastated. Heartbreak aside, I am listening, and will continue to listen and educate myself on these delicate matters. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know."
She added, "I support any victim of assault or abuse and urge anyone who has experienced this pain to seek the help she or he needs to heal."
Her response came shortly after screenshots and recordings of an alleged "burner" Instagram account of Hammer's popped up over the internet. In the clips, Hammer shows off a room in the Cayman Islands as a woman, dressed in lingerie, is sitting motionless on all fours on the bed. He casually acknowledges her as he continues to show off the room.
He posted pictures of drug tests, drinking beer while driving, and a video clip of him hitting what he says is DMT from a vaporizing device. He curls his eyes to the back of his head and then proceeds to fall back into bed after hitting the vape.
The collected controversy appears to have propelled Armie's decision to pull out of the action comedy Shotgun Wedding, in which he was supposed to star opposite Jennifer Lopez.
BBC reports that a spokesperson for the film stated that they supported Hammer's decision to step away from the film, which corroborates Hammer's announcement that Lionsgate respected his wishes to leave the film and spend time with his children in the Cayman Islands instead.
Then there's the business of Armie's familial wealth, which doesn't just include oil money from Occidental Petroleum, but from an alleged art forgery scheme.
Showbiz411 stipulates that Armie's father, Michael Armand Hammer, moved his family to the Cayman Islands not because the education system is better there or because the food is amazing and they wanted to enjoy the island paradise life (all compelling reasons), but because the islands are a tax haven.
The scandalous stories surrounding Hammer's name have even caused folks to further scrutinize his past interviews — like the fact he may have been fired from Gossip Girl and that he once said he'd want to have dinner with Marques de Sade, a French philosopher whom Sadism is named after.
Armie Hammer's been dropped by his agency, WME, in light of all the controversy.
The Hollywood Reporter has written that Hammer's massive talent agency, WME, has taken him off of their roster, and an anonymous source also told the outlet that his publicist is no longer with the actor any longer.
In addition to departing Shotgun Wedding, Hammer also took his leave from the Paramount+ production of The Offer, which is a documentary about the making of The Godfather.