Armie Hammer Has Issued an Apology, But Not for the Reason You’d Think

More than a week has passed since screenshots of those frightening alleged DM’s between Armie Hammer and a series of women first surfaced—and now, the actor has reportedly issued an apology, although not for the reason many might think.

For days, pop-culture obsessives have been aghast over the screenshots, which have not been confirmed by any official source but appear to show that the actor once described himself as a “cannibal,” and harbors slave and rape fantasies. Beyond that, other messages and on-the-record interviews from one of his exes allege that Hammer was also, at the very least, mentally and emotionally abusive. The actor brushed the claims off as “bullshit” in a broad statement announcing his departure from the Jennifer Lopez rom-com Shotgun Wedding.

Tabloids, naturally, have spent the past week digging up all sorts of dirt on the Call Me by Your Name actor—including a private Instagram account where the actor appeared to post a photo of himself using the hallucinogen DMT before a mandatory drug test. The account also included a video of a woman posed on all fours on a bed in lingerie, her bottom reddened with a caption referring to her as “Ms. Cayman.” That video, apparently, is what Hammer felt the need to explicitly address.

Apparently, the Miss Cayman Islands Universe Committee did not appreciate the nickname Hammer had bestowed on the woman in the video. “The role of Miss Cayman is in part, to serve as a role model to young Caymanian women,” the organization wrote in a statement last weekend, as first reported by People. “The depiction of the woman in the video goes against all that our organisation stands for and the Committee is consequently requesting that Mr. Hammer immediately remove all references to Miss Cayman from his social media channels.

Hammer has now issued an apology statement via the Cayman Compass—seemingly marking the first time he has publicly acknowledged the account and verified its authenticity. “I would like to clarify that the person in my video, which was stolen from my private Instagram, is not Miss Cayman,” the actor said. “I am genuinely sorry for any confusion my foolish attempt at humor may have caused.”