ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua(LOS ANGELES) — (NOTE LANGUAGE, NATURE) Armie Hammer has broken his silence about the alleged DMs that depicted bizarre and disturbing messages from him. Due to the controversy, the Golden Globe-nominee has dropped out of a movie where he was set to star alongside Jennifer Lopez.
In a statement to Entertainment Tonight, Hammer called the allegations “bulls*** claims” and added, “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.”
“Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that,” the Call Me By Your Name star concluded.
A spokesperson for the upcoming film confirmed Hammer’s role will be recast and added, “Given the imminent start date of Shotgun Wedding, Armie has requested to step away from the film and we support him in his decision.”
The alleged DMs from Hammer went viral over the weekend, where an Instagram user claimed that the 34-year-old actor messaged her about his sordid fantasies, which included his desire to drink her blood. Those allegations have not been confirmed.
However, skeptics brought up Hammer’s 2013 interview with Playboy, where he identified himself as a “dominant lover” and enjoyed “grabbing women by the neck and hair” in the heat of the moment.
In the same interview, the Lone Ranger star spoke of Elizabeth Chambers, whom he was married to at the time, and revealed that marriage changed his tastes for the better.
“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 had said.
After that interview was printed, Hammer jokingly told E! News, “Don’t drink during an interview” and remarked that “hindsight is 20/20.”
By Megan Stone
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