Armie Hammer has announced that he’s dropped out of filming the soon-to-be-shot Shotgun Wedding with Jennifer Lopez, in the wake of a scandal in which posts purporting to show the actor’s Twitter DMs—ranging in subject from failed relationships, to alleged violence against women to, bizarrely, possible cannibalism—were circulated online. Per Variety, Hammer’s part in the movie will be recast, after he requested to be dropped from its production.
Hammer issued a statement today obliquely addressing the scandal for the first time, calling the claims made against him—which circulated online late last week—“bullshit,” but also asserting that he no longer feels comfortable leaving his kids for four months to film a movie in the Dominican Republic. “Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that,” he added, a statement that the producers seem to be backing up with a statement of their own, stating, “Armie has requested to step away from the film and we support him in his decision.”
There’s no word yet on whether the online scandal will affect any of Hammer’s other upcoming work; he’s currently still on the hook for Paramount Plus TV’s Godfather making-of show The Offer, as well as Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name sequel. You can read his full statement about the decision to drop out of Shotgun Wedding below:
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 4 months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic. Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that.