Elon Musk promotes ‘anti-immigrant’ Armie Hammer film with free download on X | film

The German film starring Armie Hammer, which was allegedly refused certification by the German classification board for “incitement to violence against immigrants”, has achieved global distribution and an explosion in its viewing figures after a bizarre intervention from Elon Musk.

Citizen Vigilante, a thriller starring Hammer and written and directed by Uwe Boll, was posted for free on Musk’s X account from Thursday to Sunday, significantly boosting his marketing and business profile. The film was released in the US on June 19 by Quiver Distribution, which, according to Variety, has now acquired worldwide rights. Musk also posted: “Citizen Vigilante 2 will be better.”

In an interview with The Telegraph, Paul claimed that the film was refused certification by the German classification board, FSK (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft), saying “it was a deliberate decision of censorship.” “I hired a lawyer to complain about it, but we lost the vote by six votes, as I was told that the film incites violence against immigrants,” he said.

Hammer plays an American businessman who runs a campaign of vigilante violence against criminals in an unspecified European country. Paul says he was inspired by a case in Hamburg in 2016, where three teenagers who participated in a gang rape were given suspended sentences.

Musk’s intervention has given the film special cachet in the ongoing culture war, in which Musk has regularly backed far-right anti-immigrant activists, most recently after a knife attack in Belfast in June.

Paul, regularly called the “worst director ever,” appeared this week on a film review radio show run by the leader of the white nationalist group National Alternative in the UK, Mark Collett.

The director, who has produced more than 30 feature films, told Collette that he was urgently trying to release the film in Britain and that the distributor was awaiting evaluation.

“We’re telling it like it is,” he said. “We’re not being overly sweet. We’re just saying what a lot of people think and aren’t saying publicly. Not only are we tired of this political nonsense about immigration, we’re tired of this endless cycle of movies exploiting diversity.”

Musk’s intervention has given the film special cachet in the ongoing culture war, in which Musk has regularly backed far-right anti-immigrant activists, most recently after a knife attack in Belfast in June. Boll told Variety that Musk contacted the creators of his podcast Uwe Boll Raw to request the film. “I didn’t really talk to him or talk to him. It was very quick, you know. I think this guy, I don’t know what he does on a daily basis, but I think his attention was going fast, you know. So, I also felt like if we hadn’t somehow agreed to do this, he would have moved on.”

Before Musk’s interest in the film, Citizen Vigilante had already courted controversy by casting Hammer in the lead, as the actor tried to make a comeback after accusations in 2021 of rape and physically abusive behavior. Authorities in Los Angeles County have refused to pursue sexual assault charges against Hammer, and he has denied allegations that he is a cannibal and that he sexually assaulted a number of women in interviews with Tyler Ramsay and Louis Theroux.

In a damning review, critic Todd Gilchrist called the film a “violent, incoherent, morally bankrupt slice of exploitation” and “so bad that it feels like a very bad movie.” [Boll] He deliberately sabotages his star.”

Paul also had to change the film’s original title from The Dark Knight after what he claimed was a “friendly conversation” with Batman studio Warner Bros.