A new film featuring disgraced Hollywood actor Armie Hammer has drawn widespread anger online after it emerged that his character, a vigilante who takes revenge on behalf of rape victims, exclusively targets Muslim men and their families, with netizens and critics calling it hate propaganda dressed up as narrative about justice.
The film, Citizen Vigilante, follows a character named Sanders, a wealthy American immigrant who operates as a self-appointed vigilante, targeting perpetrators of crimes he believes the justice system has failed to punish. The film claims to draw inspiration from a real-life 2016 case in Hamburg, in which a 14-year-old girl was gang-raped by migrants who received suspended sentences.
When Sanders takes on the gang-rape case, he goes after not just Yusuf, one of those convicted of the crime, but also his entire family and social circle, luring them all to the same apartment and killing them. During the killings, he goes on a long rant claiming that Yusuf became a rapist because Islam taught him to, and that simply believing in Islam is enough reason to be put to death.
The film does not apply the same logic to non-Muslim rapists, a contradiction critics say exposes its ideological agenda. Sanders also kills a woman from Yusuf’s family for comments she made on social media about the rape victim and at several points directly addresses the audience, urging native populations to rise up in what critics have called an open call to violence against Muslims.
The casting of Hammer has added another layer of controversy. In January 2021, multiple women came forward with allegations of misconduct against the actor, including claims of non-consensual BDSM and cannibalistic fantasies. A woman named Effie formally accused him of rape and other acts of violence during their four-year relationship, allegations Hammer has denied. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed it had opened an investigation into the matter. No charges were filed.
Armie’s career came to a screeching halt with the actor being fired from multiple projects.
Reactions online have been pointed. “The irony of Citizen Vigilante is almost unbearable, a film that wants us to fear Muslims and migrants as threats to society, while centering Armie Hammer, who is associated with serious allegations of violence against women,” one user wrote.
“The film’s moral universe is rotten before the story even begins.”
Another called it “moral fraud,” writing that “there is something deeply obscene about using Armie Hammer as the face of public justice a film built on suspicion of Muslims and migrants, while ignoring the rape allegations attached to its own star.”
Others were more direct. “They made a hate propaganda film about rape and cast an actual rapist,” one post read.
One user wrote that Hammer “knew the only way to still earn money while being a rapist is to lean into white supremacy, because those easily manipulated by delusional victimhood will rally behind him.”
