Artist Turns Alleged Armie Hammer Messages Discussing Cannibalism, Other Concerning Topics Into NFTs

Earlier this year, Armie Hammer, known for his roles in films like The Social Network and Call Me By Your Name faced allegations of sexual misconduct, emotional abuse, manipulation, and physical violence from several women as disturbing screenshots seemingly depicting the actor discussing rape and cannibalism fantasies emerged online, Vanity Fair reported. 

Following the allegations, Brooklyn-based artist Julia Morrison decided to take a step to validate some of her own alleged experiences with the actor, creating a series of NFTs respectively entitled “Armie DM TMI NFT: Dibs on Ribs” and “Armie DM TMI NFT: Caligula Triptych," that will be sold on Foundation, according to The Daily Beast. While Morrison says the art pieces, which come “complete with a physical lightbox of the exchanges” center around her own unsettling interactions with Hammer over social media, the piece partially stems from her visceral reaction to hearing the stories of the women who say Hammer abused them and witnessing how they were continually forced to prove themselves as credible in the public eye. 

“I’m sick of people not believing women,” Morrison said. “I would read all the comments and it’s so triggering to see people saying stuff on the internet, like, ‘Fuck these women, we don’t believe them. They’re making it up. They’re doing it for this, they’re doing it for that. When I saw the House of Effie girl’s press conference, I cried,” she continued, referencing Effie, one of Hammer's former partners who has spoken candidly about her gut-wrenching experiences, which she says include rape and physical abuse by Hammer over the course of their four-year relationship.

However, these stories seemingly had a personal connection to Morrison, who says she interacted with the disgraced actor over social media. According to The Daily Beast, Morrison and Hammer first met over Instagram, when the actor messaged her in 2017, asking her about her photo series “For Arabella.” While she says she didn't see the message at the time, one of her friends later pointed out that Hammer followed her on the platform, after which, she sent him a message. Considering these interactions Morrison, like many of us, says she was “addicted” to reading each new story, learning the heartbreaking twists and turns of the news as it broke earlier this year. 

As the story unfolded, with more women continuing to speak out surrounding the actor's alleged misconduct and a scathing Vanity Fair article dissecting not only the alarming accusations against Hammer but other alleged scandals members of his family faced over the years, another entirely unrelated headline began to pick up traction in the press – the NFT boom. Defined as non fungible tokens, NFTs have quickly become one of big tech's hottest commodities. Essentially rare digital trading cards, NFTs are a collectible art piece backed by blockchain that cannot be used as currency. 

A timely coincidence, it seems the scandal's alignment with the tech craze provided Morrison with the perfect medium to artistically express her feelings on the matter, all the while finding a means of validating her alleged experiences. “I started looking into what the hell an NFT was and once I learned that it was a way to authenticate something, I said I want to make artwork out of my text messages with Armie Hammer,” Morrison told The Daily Beast of the inspiration behind her endeavor. “The NFT is the new notary. What I’ve done is, anyone who questions the authenticity of these exchanges, I have now created light boxes with them, and I minted them as NFTs in order to say that these things are authentic and real. It’s like a checkmate.”

Focusing on two alleged conversations between Hammer and Morrison, the first NFTs surrounds a reported interaction from August 2020, in which Hammer seemingly took a joke Morrison cracked on her Instagram story about eating the rich a little too literally, purportedly replying “dibs on the glutes muscles and ribs for smoking.”

The second NFT, which allegedly took place in March 2020, is seemingly much more disturbing and sexually graphic. In these conversations, Hammer purportedly said that Ann Rice's The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, which involves the princess becoming a sex slave for her prince is “ … like it was written for me,” before the ever-humble star allegedly compared himself to the notoriously horny Roman Emperor Caligula. Hammer then finished the reported encounter by describing a purported fantasy involving a partner showing “their love and devotion” by having intercourse with strangers. 

“These are the two pieces that I chose because I want people to ask more questions,” Morrison said of why she chose to immortalize these interactions as NFTs, which she says “really speak for themselves.” “I just can’t get it out of my head. I posted about the greatest wealth transfer we’ve ever seen in the history of humankind, and here we have this rich dude sliding into my DMs trying to lure me in.”

Now, reader, Morrison is aware of the two loaded words some of you may be thinking upon learning of her installation – “cash grab.” Aside from noting that a portion of the proceeds will go towards a charitable cause, Morrison has maintained that the purpose of these art pieces is not financial gain. 

“I don’t want people to think, ‘She’s doing it for money,’” Morrison continued. “I want to keep the conversation going. Armie’s press is always like, ‘He got dropped from something, he stepped away from another Broadway show… the fall of Armie Hammer.’ Well, now it’s a way to kind of shed this all into a different conversation.”

Finances aside, Morrison reiterated that the NFTs are meant to help validate the experiences of women who have experienced sexual abuse while continuing to broach larger discussions surrounding the actor's purported misconduct. 

“What I’m doing is basically taking Armie Hammer’s head, I’m shrinking it, and I’m putting it on a stake on the outside of the house of #MeToo,” Morrison said. “This is to stand in solidarity and to say believe women and to believe these women’s stories.”

And to those still questioning her motive, Morrison has one piece of advice – hold alleged abusers accountable. “For anyone who thinks that I did this to him, he did this to himself," she said. 

If you're a survivor of rape or sexual assault, please visit RAINN for resources. 

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