Days after rumors began circulating on social media about Armie Hammer sending direct messages calling himself a “cannibal” and fantasizing about drinking blood, the actor has issued a not-quite response.
The 34-year-old actor evaded addressing the situation’s specifics in a statement to E! News and withdrew his participation in an upcoming film, “Shotgun Wedding.”
“I’m not responding to these bullshit claims, 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,” Hammer said in the statement. “Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that.”
A production spokesperson for the film told Variety in a separate statement that “Armie has requested to step away from the film and we support him in his decision.”
Hammer’s response follows several alleged victims sharing on social media what they claim to be graphic sexual direct messages sent by the actor on Instagram.
In a series of unverified messages alleged to be sent by Hammer, the “Rebecca” actor appears to say he’s “100% a cannibal,” and is interested in drinking blood and kink-based relationships.
Many of the purported DMs with Hammer have been disclosed anonymously and there has been much talk on social media of some of them being falsified. A DM circulated on Sunday with the Instagram account @houseofeffie, who had shared alleged DMs from Hammer online, where the Instagram user “admitted” everything they shared was “fake.”
A day later, @houseofeffie said publicly that the posts shared were real and “crazy fans went so far as to fake a DM by me.”
Jessica Ciencin Henriquez, who reportedly dated Hammer last year, backed @houseofeffie and said publicly she believed the DMs to be “real.”
Henriquez later tweeted: “I’m seeing a lot of posts going around about how I am a man-hater and I would just like to clarify: Yes. I love women, I respect women ... I stand by women, and I hate men who don’t.” She has since made her account private.