Armie Hammer says his ‘name is cleared’ after D.A. forgoes charges in sexual assault case
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office will not press charges against embattled actor Armie Hammer, who was accused in 2021 of raping a woman and coercing others to engage in aggressive sexual activities.
In a statement shared with The Times on Wednesday, Tiffiny Blacknell, director of communications for the district attorney’s office, said Los Angeles “prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review, but determined that at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime.”
Andrew Brettler, Hammer’s legal representative, did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Wednesday. The actor, however, returned to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the D.A.’s decision.
“I am very grateful to the District Attorney for conducting a thorough investigation and coming to the conclusion that I have stood by this entire time, that no crime was committed,” he wrote in a statement.
In a new interview with AirMail, the actor continues to deny any claims of nonconsensual sexual activity, while calling his behavior ‘selfish.’
Blacknell told The Times in April that the case brought against the “Call Me by Your Name” star, 36, was “under review.” At the time, CNN reported that the Los Angeles Police Department presented a case against Hammer to the D.A.’s office.
In January 2021, multiple women shared disturbing allegations against the “Social Network” star, posting online their text-message exchanges with Hammer. In the messages, Hammer allegedly revealed cannibalistic desires and his obsession with aggressive sexual practices.
Hammer shot down the “bulls— claims” in a statement that same month.
The actor was accused of ‘violent rape’ at a press conference but denies the charge.
Los Angeles police launched an investigation into Hammer in March 2021 after a woman, identified as Effie, accused him of sexual assault. A source close to the investigation told The Times then that the woman who filed the police report was the same woman who alleged she was “violently raped” by Hammer in 2017.
Effie and Hammer allegedly engaged in a four-year on-again, off-again relationship after she met the actor on Facebook at age 20.
Through Brettler, Hammer strongly denied Effie’s claims, maintaining that all of his sexual encounters had been “completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance and mutually participatory.”
Amid the allegations, Hammer was dropped from film, TV and Broadway projects. Agency WME also dropped the actor from its client roster as accusations surfaced.
Speaking to Air Mail earlier this year, the actor said, “I’m here to own my mistakes, take accountability for the fact that I was an a—, that I was selfish, that I used people to make me feel better, and when I was done, moved on.”
Elli Hakami and Julian Hobbs began ‘House of Hammer’ soon after LAPD began investigating the actor. The accuser who started it all rejects the doc.
He also acknowledged that “the power dynamics were off” in some relationships because of his age and fame.
In Wednesday’s statement, Blacknell said prosecutors had “an ethical responsibility to only charge cases that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” adding that the D.A.’s decision to dismiss the case also stems from the “complexity of the relationship [between Hammer and his accuser] and inability to prove a non-consensual, forcible sexual encounter.”
Now that Hammer faces no sexual assault charges, he wrote in his caption that he’s ready to move “onward and upwards.”
His Wednesday statement continued: “I look forward to beginning what will be a long, difficult process of putting my life back together now that my name is cleared.”
Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.
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