House of Hammer Docuseries to Remove Unsubstantiated Bite-Mark Photo

House of Hammer, the Discovery+ exposé of disgraced actor Armie Hammer, is the topic of much more press this week as Talos Films—the manufacturing studio behind the sequence—responded to suggestions concerning doubtful photographic proof of Hammer’s abuse.

House of Hammer launched on Discovery+ earlier this week, and paperwork the story of Hammer’s alleged abuse. Courtney Vucekovich, a lady interviewed who was the topic of Hammer’s abuse, disclosed the bodily abuse she skilled throughout their time collectively and supplied photographic proof of a chew mark. While the proof is definitely surprising, some viewers seen that they thought the image looked familiar, and so they had been appropriate. Social media sleuths tracked the image to Pinterest, and found that it was really a photograph of a tattoo on an unknown particular person, and never a chew mark on Vucekovich.

Vucekovich stated to People that she “received numerous messages including countless images and videos,” and that she “believed it to have been a photo of me given that I have dozens of photos depicting his abuse on my body.”

Talos Films didn’t instantly return Gizmodo’s request for remark, however instructed Variety they plan to take away the photograph. “We take seriously the responsibility of representing victims’ stories. When new information came forward about this series we immediately began investigating it and will make any appropriate changes as quickly as possible.”

The photograph has since been faraway from the primary episode of the sequence titled “Love Bomb,” and was changed with one other picture of a chew mark showing on Vucekovich’s shoulder. The elimination of the unique photograph is unquestionably proof of sloppy journalism (i.e. you need to clearly verify your content material is related earlier than publishing a bombshell piece of content material), however additionally it is a symptom of a wider concern plaguing streaming providers.

After the combined response to “ME!”, the lead single off her 2019 album Lover, Taylor Swift made the manager choice to remove the widely loathed lyric “Hey kids, spelling is fun!” from all variations of the tune on streaming providers like Spotify and Apple Music upon launch of the album. Likewise, Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers confirmed that they’ve retroactively edited details of the hit sci-fi horror sequence that streams on Netflix, corresponding to altering protagonist Will Byers’ birthday from March twenty second to May twenty second.

Given that streaming providers exist in a totally digital medium, the post-release modifying of varied content material is a double-edged sword. The correction of misinformation, as within the context of House of Hammer, is clearly paramount—particularly within the wake of great allegations of abuse and hurt. However, the facility to bend content material to the desire of public opinion, corresponding to within the case of Taylor Swift and the Duffer Brothers, might show a slippery slope as we eat artwork and media.