Armie Hammer Apologizes to Casey Affleck for Comparing Him to Birth of a Nation's Nate Parker

Armie Hammer is apologizing for using Casey Affleck as an example of an alleged double standard in Hollywood when it comes to sexual misconduct.

The Call Me By Your Name actor, 31, brought up Affleck while giving his take on the controversy surrounding director Nate Parker and how it affected his film Birth of a Nation in an interview with The Hollywood Report.

Hammer, who starred in the movie, said he believed the director got harsher treatment for his sexual misconduct allegations than Affleck, 42, who won a Best Actor Oscar for Manchester By the Sea, despite his own controversies.

In a statement on Friday, Hammer apologized for the comparison, saying, “I would like to sincerely apologize to Casey and his family for my recent comments about him in my THR interview. Without knowing the facts about the civil lawsuits at issue (which I now understand were settled), I misspoke.

“I conflated sexual harassment cases with a criminal case involving sexual assault charges. The cases in which Casey was involved were not criminal and instead involved civil claims from his 2010 movie I’m Still Here. While intending to make a social comment about double standards in general, I mistakenly compared reports of prior, public civil allegations that never proceeded to trial with a criminal case that was fully tried.”

Affleck was sued in 2010 by two former coworkers for sexual harassment on the film I’m Still Here. The actor was accused of a series of misconducts, including drunkenly climbing into bed with one of the victims. Both suits were dismissed and settled out of court.

Meanwhile, Parker was charged with several counts of rape as a sophomore in college in 1999. He was acquitted of all charges and his accuser later committed suicide in 2012. Birth of a Nation was marred with the controversy once the allegations surfaced as the film was beginning to gain Oscar momentum.

The movie was completely left out of the 2017 awards ceremony where Affleck won Best Actor.

“I understand now that this was a poor comparison, which I deeply regret making,” Hammer added in his apology statement. “I also didn’t mean to insinuate, nor do I believe, that Casey or anyone from his camp had anything to do with leaked information that took place during the press for Birth of a Nation.”

He continued, “I respect Casey’s work, and I’ve learned a valuable lesson about the need to be more accurate with disseminating information, especially in this age of instantaneous, unchecked communication. While attempting to be part of the solution, I unintentionally made myself part of the problem, for which I am truly sorry.”