Over the past few weeks, many have been confused as to what is going on with Call Me by Your Name star Armie Hammer.  As a recently divorced father, he has been seemingly going through a midlife crisis.  He has cut his hair in an odd style, started doing construction work, and managed to be accused of being a cannibal and murderer all in the span of six months.  Fans cannot help but wonder, what is going on with him?

Early in January 2021, screenshots of Instagram DMs were leaked across the internet.  Everyone was shocked, however, in the age of “believing the victim” critics immediately condemned Hammer without a second thought.  The messages are explicit and undeniably mortifying.  They state phrases such as:  “I am 100% a cannibal” and “You just live to obey and be my slave” (The Sun).  During the time of the DMs (from 2016), Hammer was married to Elizabeth Chambers.  They announced their divorce in July 2020, “prior to the current scandal” (Insider).  They were posted to the Instagram account @houseofeffie and continued to be unverified for a couple of weeks after.  

The actor has been dropped by his talent agency, William Morris Endeavor (WME) and his publicist, Halle Kiefer of The Cut states.  After an endless amount of embarrassment, “‘Armie has requested to step away from [Shotgun Wedding]’”, a production representative said. (Vanity Fair)  Hammer was dropped by Paramount’s The Godfather as well.  This seemed to be the downfall of his career.  He decided not to respond to the “vicious and spurious online attacks”. (Vanity Fair)

The accusations continued to snowball.  Model and past partner of Hammer’s, Paige Lorenze “[accused him] of sexual violence, at one point carving a letter A near her [groin]”.  Ex-girlfriend Courtney Vucekovich “also accused the actor of being emotionally abusive”. Just as evidence was building against him, Hammer’s lawyer released a statement saying “Any interactions with this person, or any partner of his, were completely consensual in that they were fully discussed, agreed upon, and mutually participatory. The stories being perpetuated in the media are a misguided attempt to present a one-sided narrative with the goal of tarnishing Mr. Hammer’s reputation, and communications from the individuals involved prove that.” (The Cut)

The real irony of the situation came as a voice memo leaked.  In it, Armie blamed everything he said in the @houseofeffie DMs on the “heat of the moment”.  Many were baffled at the lack of awareness the actor possessed.  He goes on to say, “a lot [was said] that most people…don’t relate to.  [It’s] niche”.  It is laughable how nonchalantly Hammer explains himself, while from an outside perspective, the DMs and accusations flying around are quite alarming.  Again, most of this remains unverified besides him telling the public that some of the content leaked was “stolen from his private Instagram” (Variety).

For the rest of January, the internet went on to make fun of Hammer, until things got a bit more serious.  Armie Hammer was accused of murder by people online.  Apparently, Hammer has been working in construction on his friend’s hotel for the past couple of months to occupy himself during the pandemic.  Remains of three dead bodies were found in Wonder Valley, California on January 31.  Online rumors spread like wildfire because of the connections being made to his apparent cannibalism fetish.  Police jumped on it and squashed the rumors, eliminating any connection Hammer had to the murders.

Currently, Armie Hammer is vacationing in Grand Cayman to escape the noise.