What was Armie Hammer accused of?

Content advisory: This article mentions details of sexual assault and abuse allegations, please take care while reading.

Armie Hammer is not guilty. This isn’t just another opinion that can be discarded as a misogynist take on his actions, but a ruling that was recently issued by the Los Angeles County District Attorney, who cleared the actor of all the sexual allegation charges on Tuesday.

As reported by Variety, the DA cited a lack of evidence after a lengthy investigation by the LAPD, which was followed by conjecture that Hammer’s accuser maintained a “complex relationship” with him. This relationship was apparently enough to relieve Hammer the tag of a “rapist,” allowing him to walk out free, with the DA’s office releasing an official statement.

“In this case, those prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review, but determined that at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime. As prosecutors, we have an ethical responsibility to only charge cases that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt… 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.”

While this piece of shocking information can potentially cause a furor amongst people, especially those who openly castigated him for his despicable sexual fetishes and assaults, many are revisiting Hammer’s previous alleged actions.

What are the actual accusations made against Hammer?

Hailing from a powerful billionaire family, Hammer’s entry into the realm of entertainment occurred out of his desire to be a self-made professional, rather than relying on his family’s wealth. So, at the age of 24, he landed a role in David Fincher’s The Social Network, where he played both of the Winklevoss twins.

More recognition and fame were earned through films like J.Edgar, Mirror Mirror, Call Me by Your Name, and The Lone Ranger, to name a few, until he began to hit the headlines in 2021 for all the wrong reasons. A woman named Effie Angelova accused Hammer of sexually and physically abusing her, as well as violently raping her during their four-year on-and-off relationship.

Angelova went on to claim, among other things, that Hammer repeatedly banged her head against a wall, and that his abuse deeply impacted her and her family. Sharing text messages between her and Hammer, she mentioned how completely nonchalant he was about the whole incident, but tried to calm the situation through a mere apology once he got scared that she might involve her family.

Responding to the accusation, Hammer pinned the blame on her, stating the physical and sexual violence were Angelova’s idea to kink things up,

“She planned all of the details out, all the way down to what Starbucks I would see her at, how I would follow her home, how her front door would be open and unlocked, and I would come in, and we would engage in what is called a ‘consensual non-consent scene.”

Thereafter, a group of other women came forward to pose similar allegations of violence, and of sexual and emotional abuse. Some of the text messages shared by Effie and other women point at Hammer’s peculiar sexual fantasies, some of which bordered on or mentioned cannibalism. One of the accusers was model Paige Lorenze, who came forward with her side of the story saying that Hammer carved the letter A on her skin, as well as stating a fantasy to remove her bottom ribs to cook and eat them.

Even in most of his messages to the accusers, Hammer seemingly included “drinking blood,” “eating flesh,” and “cutting toes” among his fetishes, which were shocking for people who until then were used to Hammer’s innocuous roles onscreen.

Things took a new turn when in May 2021, he was tried and placed in a facility until December. Even though the accusations and stories harmed him professionally, a lot of his celebrity cohorts came to his defense. Even so, his not-guilty verdict couldn’t put the genie back in the bottle. For the next three years, he lived in relative obscurity — until his 2024 interview with Piers Morgan. In the interview, Hammer seemed to get everything out in the open, including the cannibalism charges, his sexually aggressive behavior, and the chain of events that led to his current persona non grata status.

Hammer’s great-grandfather, Armand Hammer, was a notorious figure even before any modern allegations came about. Using his wife’s money to become an emboldened oil tycoon, he was also known for his sexually controlling and obsessive behavior. The Social Network actor addressed his childhood in his Morgan interview, saying that life under the Hamner regime was dysfunctional, but that he doesn’t blame his actions on them, despite the concerning similarities between him and his great-grandfather. Discovery’s House of Hammer documentary goes into further detail about the controversial family.

What viewers are perhaps most interested in hearing are Hammer’s response to accusations of cannibalism and rape fantasies that crossed the line for many of his partners. In the interview, Hammer unequivocally states that he is not a cannibal, and has never eaten human flesh, stating:

“Not a question I’d ever thought I’d have to answer, by the way.”

Regardless of his feelings on the matter, he did state in his words that he was “100% a cannibal.” It’s only natural that viewers may want some clarification on the matter. Hammer further explains that this claim in his text messages was a part of the intense dynamic of the relationship “between two people with very similar proclivities.” As he always argued, these messages were just part of a large-scale role-play scenario.

He also speaks to Lorenze’s claims about branding her with his first initial. Hammer admits to discussing a rough play scenario with his partner before the fact, but denies there was branding involved. He paints the event as him scraping the letter A into her skin with the point of a small knife, but maintains no blood was drawn. All in all, these responses are consistent with his statements in the past. Everything was consensual, at least from his perspective, and he disagrees with his former partner’s point of view on events. Now that Hammer has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, his future seems to rest in the court of public opinion.

If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.