is looking back at the cannibalism allegations that effectively ended his Hollywood career four years ago.
In early 2021, the Call Me by Your Name actor was accused of rape by an ex, and various unverified direct messages detailing vivid sexual fantasies were attributed to him. Hammer vehemently denied the rape allegations and said his sexual encounters were consensual. A Los Angeles police department investigation into the claims was closed in May 2023 and the actor was not charged.
Appearing on the Wednesday, January 1, episode of the “Your Mom’s House” podcast hosted by and , Hammer admitted that it was a “wild time.”
“COVID was going on, people were locked in their apartment, people were miserable,” Hammer, 38, said. “There was all this s–t going on. The world seemed like it was falling apart. And people were deeply unhappy with their own lives. And then this salacious story comes around where this actor wants to murder and eat people, and all of a sudden everyone’s like, ‘Oh, this is so much more fun to focus on than the fact I can’t leave my living room.’ Everyone was like, ‘Let’s dogpile on this story.’”
He continued, “I think I was just in full panic mode. There would be articles in the Punjabi Times about how I was a cannibal and all that stuff. I think in March of 2021 I was the fifth most-searched person on Google in the world. And all of it was negative.”
“All of a sudden you’re left standing there naked in front of the world with all of your proclivities or kinks being judged by the world,” Hammer added, appearing to take ownership of at least some of the graphic messages attributed to him at the time. “That s–t is tough.”
After shooting to stardom following his role in The Social Network and other major blockbusters, Hammer said he struggled with keeping up his clean-cut Hollywood image. At the time, Hammer was married to, with whom he has two children, daughter Harper, 10, and son Ford, 7. He said his social media behavior was in some way a response to how he felt.
“I think somewhere deep down, subconsciously, I wanted to get caught. I so did not relate to the image of me that was out there in the public. Like, ‘Look at them, they’re like the Ralph Lauren family. They’ve got the perfect life, and the perfect house, and the perfect kids,’” Hammer explained. “I was like, ‘I feel like a f—ing alien.’ I was ‘liking’ rope bondage pictures on my Twitter. It was like I was dog-whistling to it, if you will, and wanting to get caught. People would be like, ‘I don’t think he knows his Twitter likes are public.’ I saw that and I was like, ‘I know.’”
Hammer addressed the public response to his purported direct messages and said his conversations were taken out of context.
He said, “If anyone took anyone’s bedroom conversations, specifically if people were having a little bit of sexy time, and they took the shit that they said, even if it was completely vanilla, and you read that somewhere else out of context, everyone’s going to go, ‘You guys are f—ing disgusting.’”
Hammer also admitted to fantasies about rope bondage, explaining, “I like the idea that you are so completely mine. I can do whatever you want, and you love it because you know you’re mine. This possession kinda thing.”
“It’s just fun to talk about … especially if you’re drunk or stoned or high at night, and you’re texting, and you’re chuckling to yourself,” he added. “Like, ‘I’m gonna f—ing cut your toe off and keep it in my pocket so I got a piece of you everywhere I go. Ha ha ha.’ Then it gets read in the court of public opinion and everyone goes, ‘You’re insane.’”
