Armie Hammer Under Fire for Criticizing Stan Lee Tributes

The death of Stan Lee has inspired all sorts of celebrity figures (including all those stars […]

November 15, 2018, 10:40pm

The death of Stan Lee has inspired all sorts of celebrity figures (including all those stars within the Marvel brand) to post tributes to the late, great, Marvel creator on social media.

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For the most part those celebrity tributes have touched fans and helped console them in their time of mourning. However, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Social Network star Armie Hammer has found himself in a whirlwind of backlash, following this ill-conceived attempt to join the conversation surrounding Stan Lee’s death:

So touched by all of the celebrities posting pictures of themselves with Stan Lee… no better way to commemorate an absolute legend than putting up a picture of yourself.
— Armie Hammer (@armiehammer) November 12, 2018

what else u supposed to do when someone dies armie pic.twitter.com/Q8n9rtnoAu
— 🥝 (@josiehunt_) November 12, 2018

If your answer is “post a selfie” then I think we need a cultural revamp across the board.
— Armie Hammer (@armiehammer) November 12, 2018

After that, Twitter exploded with thousands of reactions to Hammer’s hot take on the reactions to Stan Lee’s death – and very few of them were in support of the actor. As many fans pointed out, Hammer was ironically doing the very thing he was criticizing: by dropping one of the only only contrarian and cynical takes on Lee’s death, from such a high-profile platform, Hammer actually made the matter very much about himself and not Lee – no photograph required.

Some may argue that Hammer does have a point, though: celebrities posting pictures of themselves with Stan Lee may contain an element of narcissism. Yet, as you can see below, fans quickly refuted that notion by posting their own photos of themselves with Lee, in testament to how prolific and generous the Marvel creator was about meeting fans from all walks of life, all throughout his life, even into his ’90s.

I’m not a ‘celebrity,’ but here’s a picture commemorating an absolute legend, with me in it.
I felt really cool taking a picture with him. pic.twitter.com/AhluYHOVia
— Eddie McClintock (@EddieMcClintock) November 13, 2018

I put up a pic of me & Stan because I wanted to share one of the most memorable moments of my career/life meeting the man. That’s what people are doing. It’s the highest honor to testify about what he meant to YOU. But thanks for appointing yourself judge of how people express it
— John Campea (@johncampea) November 13, 2018

It’s weird because that’s what all the fans who ever met him at cons have been doing too, Armie. It’s almost like remembering a moment that they spent with someone who is now no longer with us gives people a small measure of comfort in their sadness. Assholes.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
— Chris Evans’ Beard (@EvansBeard) November 13, 2018

RIP Armie Hammer, Ur work meant so much pic.twitter.com/NdoHO5siBH
— Ashley Harris (@ashley_harris1) November 13, 2018

All in all, the loss of Stan Lee is the type of grief that many of us are still processing, let alone working through. It has to do with just how powerful Lee’s Marvel creations really are, and what an iconic symbol of the culture he really was. Truly irreplaceable.

R.I.P. Stan Lee: December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018.

Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp are now available as a digital download as well as on Blu-ray and DVD. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universemovies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.