Elon Musk shared this banned Armie Hammer movie with 240 million followers
Tech mogul Elon Musk shared the controversial Armie Hammer film Citizen Vigilante on his X account on Friday, a movie described by some critics as "the most disturbing film ever."
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.
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- Elon Musk shared the controversial Armie Hammer film Citizen Vigilante on X, giving it major exposure through his account with more than 240 million followers.
- The film was banned in Germany over its extreme violence and concerns that it could incite violence against migrants.
- The movie streamed on X for 48 hours before being removed from Musk’s account and director Uwe Boll’s account, but other users continued reposting it.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Tech mogul Elon Musk shared the controversial Armie Hammer film Citizen Vigilante on his X account on Friday, a movie described by some critics as "the most disturbing film ever."
The movie was banned in its home country, Germany, for showing extreme violence and over fears that it could incite violence against migrants, according to The Telegraph. It was not given an age rating, meaning it cannot receive the certification required for public screenings.
In the US, Citizen Vigilante was released on June 19th – and ended up streaming in full on Musk’s X for 48 hours.
The newly crowned trillionaire's account has more than 240 million followers, showing the film to a significant audience. It has since been removed from both Musk's account and the account of Uwe Boll, the 60-year-old German filmmaker who also shared it publicly.
Regardless of the takedown, the movie has been reposted by other X users.
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Citizen Vigilante follows the story of Sanders (played by Hammer), who goes on a violent spree after the murder of his mother by a migrant. His targets are predominantly migrant criminals, and he eventually rises as a hero figure to many citizens.
A Variety review described the film as “a violent, incoherent, morally bankrupt slice of exploitation”, calling its director “a cinematic embarrassment since the early 2000s”.
Boll is best known for directing low-budget video game adaptations, with several considered among the worst ever made. Empire magazine called him “the Ed Wood of unwanted video-game movie adaptations”.
Despite receiving limited but largely negative reviews from critics, the movie has a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes from 1000+ ratings.
On Saturday, Boll posted on X that the movie’s sequel, Citizen Vigilante 2, is coming in 2027.
Meanwhile, Musk took no time to react to a post claiming that Citizen Vigilante had climbed to #2 on Apple TV, writing, “Citizen Vigilante 2 will be even better.”
Musk recently came under fire after the Center for Countering Digital Hate highlighted his three posts about anti-immigrant riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which got more than 115 million views. The nonprofit accused him of using the incident to “amplify violent migrant narratives inspiring calls for violence, with little apparent consequence on the platform.”
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