After languishing in cancellation purgatory for more than three years, actor Armie Hammer has started making his return to polite society.
And we seriously need to consider letting him back in — even though, yes, he has been accused of being an abusive, kinky “cannibal.”
“You know what you have to do to be a cannibal? You have to have actually eaten somebody,” he told Pier Morgan in an “Uncensored” interview last week — before explicitly denying ever having feasted on human flesh.
“No. Not a question I’d ever thought I’d have to answer, by the way. But no, never.”
As far as #MeToo banishments go, his was a particularly bizarre and sordid Tinseltown tale. An ascending Hollywood A-lister and son of a dynastic American family, he had his wings clipped in 2021 by a rape allegation and claims that he was Hannibal Lecter — after he apparently told a mistress that he wanted to break and consume her rib.
The LAPD investigated but declined to charge Hammer with any crimes.
But Hammer was convicted in the court of public opinion.
Now, as we emerge on the other side of #MeToo and the fevered excesses of the era — banishing any and every person who had even a whisper of bad behavior — come into focus, we need to have a real conversation about allowing some people back into the fold. Especially if they’ve taken responsibility.
On Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast last week, Hammer insisted all of his kinky encounters were consensual, but he freely admits that he was guilty of being a manipulative a–hole to women he dated.
If that’s a crime, it would wipe out a whole lot of Hollywood’s leading men.
“There are things in my behavior that I have to take accountability for, right? Because that is pivotal for me, learning and growing from it,” he told Maher, admitting that he indulged in BDSM and cheated on his then wife, Elizabeth Chambers.
Professionally, the “Call Me By Your Name” star was riding high in January 2021 when a woman initially using the Instagram handle “House of Effie” claimed she had a four-year affair with Hammer — and shared some pretty dark texts from him about drinking blood and rape fantasies.
Two more women came forward with similar tales. Effie Angelova also accused him of a horrific four-hour rape. Hammer’s lawyer said everything in their relationship was “completely consensual.”
By February, Hammer had been dropped from several projects and kicked to the curb by his talent agent and publicist.
In May of 2023, the LAPD dropped their investigation into the claims, saying in a statement, “Due to the complexity of the relationship and inability to prove a non-consensual, forcible sexual encounter we are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“For two and a half years, [the LAPD] went through phones, emails, eyewitness reports in a time where if they could have nailed someone like me it would have been such a boon for the LAPD,” Hammer told Maher.
He may have been off the hook, but he was still unable to find work. When it was reported that he was selling time shares in the Cayman Islands, a fresh round of schadenfreude made its way online.
But, with the passage of time, those initial accusations are murkier.
Last February, an in-depth piece in Airmail revealed Hammer’s full exchanges with his accusers, which appeared to show that the women were willing participants. In Effie’s case, it would seem that she kept pursuing him: Even three years after the alleged 2017 rape, she texted him, “I’m craving you.”
As the piece noted, “Angelova has yet to sign an affidavit swearing to her allegations.”
Violent abuser or bad boyfriend? I’m leaning toward the latter.
Regardless, Hammer said the experience killed his ego — and saved his life.
“Here’s what I think would have happened had none of this gone on and, like, the cataclysmic tectonic shift in my life wouldn’t have happened. My life would have kept going exactly as it was, and I know that would ultimately only lead in one place and that’s death,” Hammer told Maher.
The onetime actor is now working as a sober companion and says he’s broke and heavily in debt.
Yet, he told Maher, “I’ve never been happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life.”
Maybe that’s just the actor in him speaking. But he’s in a unique redemption space, clearly trying to resurrect himself.
Our society, especially in progressive circles, claims to care deeply about second chance for people convicted of violent crimes. People who have served their time.
What about those who were never convicted, but still lost everything in the process?