Actor Jon Hamm has broken his silence on his shocking hazing past with an outraged indignance, responding furiously when a reporter dared to ask him about it.
Hamm’s alleged treatment of fraternity pledge Mark Sanders at the University of Texas in Austin has gone largely undiscussed for years.
The actor, 54, is alleged to have ‘tortured’ Sanders, humiliating him beyond belief. Sanders dropped out of school as a result.
Hamm has never apologized publicly and insisted previously that Sanders’ claims were ‘sensationalized’ and not entirely ‘accurate’.
The shocking account resurfaced this week amid renewed calls for him to face public scrutiny.
When the Daily Mail contacted Hamm by phone Wednesday, the stunned actor deferred to his people.
‘I think you should call my rep, who are you? This is inappropriate, it’s a very odd choice for you to call me,’ he snapped.
‘They are claims that have been around for years. No, I don’t want to respond!
‘I’m a little bit offended that you called my personal line, that’s why we have representatives,’ he said. Hamm was later spotted looking pensive while walking his dog in New York City.
Jon Hamm (pictured in New York City on Wednesday) was upset when contacted by the Daily Mail and asked about a horrific hazing incident from his college days
The Mad Men star was accused of beating a pledge for Sigma Nu at the University of Texas at Austin in 1990
Sanders previously gave an agonizing interview to prosecutors about how he was beaten with a paddle, dragged around a room by his genitals and had his pants set on fire during the hazing ordeal.
He was left with a fractured spine and nearly lost a kidney due to the damage he sustained.
‘He hits me right over my right kidney,’ Sanders said of Hamm.
‘I mean, square over it. Good, solid hit. And that stood me up,’ Sanders said in an interview with Travis County’s Attorney’s Office for the criminal case.
‘I’m hurting bad. I mean, being hit right where the kidney is, it’s killing me.’
Sanders described being forced into a dirty, confined area known as ‘the pit’ and ordered to do press ups, despite his agony.
He alleged that Hamm and another frat member then violently yanked his underwear up and began moving it back and forth in a painful ‘sawing’ motion.
‘I was hurting really bad and I remember I was looking up at the ceiling and I was gritting my teeth and squinting my eyes … it was sawing and it was hurting,’ Sanders said.
He claimed that Hamm then took out a lighter and torched the belt loop on his jeans.
Hazing victim Mark Sanders was hit so hard during the warped 1990 initiation that he suffered a fractured spine and nearly lost a kidney
Hamm was charged with assault which was dismissed. He later completed a period of probation
The hazing victim Mark Allen Sanders (pictured in 2015) has never spoken about his ordeal and is now a successful Texas lawyer
‘My head is down,’ Sanders said, per the transcript. ‘I mean, my chin is in the chest at this point, I see him light the lighter and put it to my pants.
‘I was kind of panicking, because I was wearing a cotton t-shirt. I actually tried to put it out with my hands, and Jon Hamm wouldn’t let me. He made me blow it out with my mouth.’
He also described how Hamm allegedly took out a claw hammer and hooked it under his genitals before dragging him around a room.
Hamm was arrested for alleged assault in 1993, but the charge was dismissed.
He completed a period of probation.
The actor went on to become a huge star in 60s advertising drama Mad Men and is currently winning rave reviews for his performance in Apple TV+ drama Your Friends & Neighbors.
Allegations of the hazing first resurfaced in 2015, just as the final season of Mad Men was airing.
At the time, a ‘source’ close to Hamm told Star magazine that the hazing horror was ‘an isolated incident in Jon’s life.’
‘Since then, he’s been strong enough to take steps to make him a better person,’ the source added.
But there was no sign of any introspection when Hamm was asked about the incident by Esquire magazine in a 2018 interview.
Journalist Maximillian Potter said Hamm’s tone became ‘tinged with anger’ when the subject was broached, with the actor snapping: ‘I hope I didn’t sign up for a hit piece.’
When Potter pushed further for a response, he said Hamm ‘bristled’ before unleashing a stream of self-serving invective.
‘I wouldn’t say it’s accurate,’ Hamm began. ‘Everything about that is sensationalized. I was accused of these things I don’t… It’s so hard to get into it.
‘I don’t want to give it any more breath. It was a bummer of a thing that happened. I was essentially acquitted.
‘I wasn’t convicted of anything. I was caught up in a big situation, a stupid kid in a stupid situation, and it’s a f**king bummer. I moved on from it.’
The scandal was then largely forgotten, with Hamm going on to land plum parts in prestige movies and TV shows including Top Gun: Maverick and The Morning Show.
But earlier this week, DailyMail.com columnist Maureen Callahan resurfaced the scandal in her new podcast The Nerve, which is part of Megyn Kelly’s new MK Media venture.
Callahan said she’d been shocked to see Hamm receive plaudits for his Apple TV+ show Your Friends & Neighbors and land plum spots on SNL and Jimmy Fallon.
Hamm was with moviemaker ex-girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt for 18 years. She was credited with helping build Hamm’s career, but the couple split in 2015 (Pictured together in 2014)
Hamm quickly shacked up with a far younger actress called Anna Osceola when he was 44 and she was 27. The couple wed in 2023 (pictured together in 2024)
She said that in her opinion, Hamm is ‘worse than Harvey Weinstein.’
Callahan detailed the hazing incident Hamm was involved in and said it was shocking he’d escaped unscathed while the likes of Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin had seen their careers destroyed by scandals.
She said Hamm was ‘self impressed’, only played a ‘douche’ and that his rage was ‘barely-concealed’ on screen.
Callahan also highlighted how Hamm’s talented moviemaker ex-girlfriend Jennifer Westeldt, 55, had helped build his career while the actor spoke about not wanting to get married and how he’d avoided having children.
But Hamm shacked up with a far younger actress called Anna Osceola in 2015 when he was 44 and she was 27.
The couple wed in 2023 and now live together in a modern $4 million house in the Hollywood Hills.
Last year, Hamm said he was now open to having children.
Hamm went to rehab to be treated for alcoholism in 2015 as Mad Men concluded.
Hazing victim Sanders has never spoken publicly about the abuse he suffered during the hazing incident.
Several other students involved in the incident were given jail time. The fraternity’s chapter was also disbanded at the University of Texas following the incident.
