‘I’m not gonna lie:’ Armie Hammer addresses cannibalism claims as part of comeback attempt

Ever since losing his career in 2021, Armie Hammer has desperately been trying to claw it back. But let’s not forget how serious the allegations against him were. Because they involved accusations of a cannibal fetish, the whole incident was turned into memes and jokes. But in actual fact they were incredibly serious. One of his accusers, a woman known only by the first name Effie, accused him of rape. The LAPD actually investigated Hammer, but found insufficient evidence.

Nonetheless, Hammer is rightly persona non grata in Hollywood right now. But he’s attempting a comeback whether or not anyone wants him to. (And no, no they don’t.) He took to Instagram yesterday and announced a new podcast, declaring, “Some of you are going to love this and some of you are going to f***ing hate it.” Well, he’s not wrong. He added, “I’ve been gone for the last four years, and now I’m back. It’s gonna be a sort of journal, or chronicling, of putting my life back together.”

So far the podcast, predictably called The Armie HammerTime Podcast, is nothing to write home about and will do nothing to improve anyone’s opinion of Hammer. His first guest was comedian Tom Arnold, and while talking to him Hammer continued to maintain his innocence. “Every single person would call me and say, ‘I’ve known you since you were 19 years old. You’re not this guy. We know this isn’t you,” he said, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. He claims he felt “resentment” about the lack of help he was getting, but then he had a random conversation with a weed farmer and was told, “You set your house on fire and your house is burning to the ground, and now you want your friends to run into a burning house with you?”

The weird thing is, though, Hammer seems to find it funny that his house has burned to the ground. That’s the most baffling thing about this problematic podcast. He and Arnold laughed about the incident, with Arnold saying, “The cannibal stuff is always my favorite… They have to keep escalating.” Who is this “they”? The women who have accused Hammer? Hammer responded, “I’m not gonna lie, I kind of like the cannibal stuff now. I’m just like, hey, I’m a cannibal!” Both men laughed about the situation, while implying that the allegations weren’t true.

This is a very, very weird way to handle accusations as serious as the ones put to Hammer. Courtney Vucekovich alleged that Hammer “said to me he wants to break my rib and barbecue and eat it”—but she also accused him of emotional abuse and forcing her into uncomfortable situations. Another girlfriend, Paige Lorenze, accused Hammer of branding her with an “A” and causing bruises to her. What part of any of that is laughable?

Hammer has even admitted to the emotional abuse. In 2023, two years after the allegations, he told Air Mail that “the power dynamics were off” in his relationships. He explained, “I would scoop up these women, bring them into it – into this whirlwind of travel and sex and drugs and big emotions flying around—and then as soon as I was done, I’d just drop them off and move on to the next woman, leaving that woman feeling abandoned or used.”

He continued, “I’m here to own my mistakes, take accountability for the fact that I was an asshole, that I was selfish, that I used people to make me feel better, and when I was done, moved on,” and added that he even tried to take his own life by walking into the ocean.

But he hasn’t actually taken taken any accountability thus far. Instead, he seemed to be trying to portray himself right now as, “the cannibal guy” which is just plain disturbing. By trying to make the allegations funny, he’s robbing them of their power—and he knows exactly what he’s doing.