Alleged Hollywood rapist portrays Muslims as rapists in film

Armie Hammer's attempted Hollywood comeback is off to a disastrous start.

The actor's new film, Citizen Vigilante, is facing intense backlash after viewers accused it of using a story about justice to push what many are calling anti-Muslim hate propaganda.

The controversy isn't just about Hammer's return to the screen.

It's also about the film's plot.

Hammer plays Sanders, a wealthy American immigrant who takes the law into his own hands, hunting down criminals he believes have escaped justice.

One of those cases is based on the widely reported 2016 Hamburg gang rape case involving migrant offenders.

But according to critics, that's where the film crosses a line.

Instead of targeting only the convicted perpetrator, Sanders murders Yusuf's entire family and social circle, luring them into an apartment before killing them.

During the killings, the character delivers a lengthy speech claiming Yusuf became a rapist because of Islam and argues that merely being Muslim is enough to deserve death.

Critics have pointed out that the film never applies the same logic to non-Muslim rapists, accusing it of presenting Muslims collectively as legitimate targets for violence.

The character also kills a female relative over social media comments and repeatedly addresses viewers directly, encouraging native populations to rise up—moments many online have described as explicit incitement against Muslims.

Hammer's casting has only amplified the backlash.

In 2021, the actor became the subject of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, including claims of rape, abuse and violent behaviour made by several women.

Hammer has denied the allegations, and although the Los Angeles Police Department investigated the claims, no criminal charges were filed.

His career, however, effectively collapsed, with the actor losing multiple major projects.

That history wasn't lost on viewers.

"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 described the film as "moral fraud," arguing: "There is something deeply obscene about using Armie Hammer as the face of public justice... while ignoring the rape allegations attached to its own star."

Others were even harsher. "They made a hate propaganda film about rape and cast an actual rapist," one viral post read.

While Citizen Vigilante presents itself as a revenge thriller inspired by real events, much of the conversation online has shifted away from its story—and toward accusations that it uses those events to justify violence against an entire religious community.