#216 - James Kirchick: THE TRUTH ABOUT ARMIE HAMMER, Elizabeth Chambers Collusion, Effie Allegations, BDSM, The #MeToo NFT, & The Hidden History Of Gay Washington

On this episode of The AUXORO Podcast, James Kirchick and Zach record a thrilling two-parter. The first half of the episode focuses on James Kirchick's interview with Armie Hammer titled 'Armie Hammer Breaks His Silence' (published by Air Mail Feb 2023), the first and only interview given by Armie Hammer since his alleged sexual abuse claims and blacklisting from Hollywood. We get into evidence that shows how Elizabeth Chambers, Hammer's now ex-wife, colluded with the main accuser Effie, why the "cannibal" accusations are unfounded and ridiculous, the shortcomings and negligence of the 'House Of Hammer' documentary, texts from Hammer's accusers that paint a completely different story than the one portrayed by the mainstream media, a #MeToo NFT minted and sold by one of Hammer's accusers, the origins of Hammer's interest in BDSM, and more. The second half of the episode covers James Kirchick's book 'Secret City: The Hidden History Of Gay Washington.' We discuss how homosexuality became intertwined with the heightened threat of communism, the purge of gay employees from the federal government, The Lavender Scare, the courageous story of Frank Cameny, the plot to out Reagan as part of a clandestine homosexual cabal, and the throughlines between the cancellation of Armie Hammer and the gay men in Washington who had their lives destroyed. Guest Bio: James Kirchick is a columnist for Tablet magazine, a writer at large for Air Mail, and author of the instant New York Times bestseller, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington. A widely published journalist and historian, he has reported from over 40 countries, and his reportage, essays, and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, the New York Review of Books, New York, Rolling Stone, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, the Spectator, and the Times Literary Supplement, among many other publications in the United States and around the world.