Armie Hammer sets record straight on cannibalism rumours

Armie Hammer talks about how, when hunting, he once consumed a portion of an animal's heart.

On The Louis Theroux Podcast, the disgraced actor—who has previously been accused of having cannibalistic fantasies—was recently questioned if it is true that he "cut the heart out of the animal and ate it while still warm."

“No, you don’t eat the whole heart. One of the traditions is you take a bite out of the heart,” Hammer explained to host Louis Theroux of the hunting tradition. “You’ve got all your buddies around you, they’re goading you on.”

The Call Me by Your Name actor continued, “It’s sort of like an almost overly charged male rite of passage when you go hunting for the first time. Everyone that I know who went hunting for their first time had to do something similar.”

He also clarified that the tradition was “not for the purpose of any cannibalism or any sexual gratification.”

In 2021, sexually suggestive text messages from Hammer surfaced, which included references to cannibalism and fetishes. Two women accused him of emotional abuse, and another claimed he raped her in 2017.

The documentary series House of Hammer detailed these allegations. Hammer admitted to being emotionally cruel but stated the relationships were voluntary sadomasochistic.

In 2023, the LA County district attorney declined to indict him due to insufficient evidence.

During his interview with Theroux, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. actor also addressed the 2021 allegations, saying, “You know what you have to do to actually be a cannibal? You have to actually eat human flesh. So no.”

“Sometimes when you’re involved with a person and you’re dating and you guys are having sex and you are a bit of a provocateur … it’s fun to ruffle feathers, and it’s fun to push the envelope little by little,” Hammer added. 

“Did I ever have any intention of cutting anything off of anyone or eating anything off of anyone? No. That was never really anything that I wanted. Was it fun to joke about if I was stoned or drunk or like laughing as I was typing these messages? Sure.”