Jon Hamm was accused of setting a person on fire in the '90s. Decades on, he shows little remorse.

Jon Hamm is known for a lot of things.

He's a Hollywood heartthrob, he was nominated for a two 2024 Emmy awards for his work on Fargo and The Morning Show, he's Don Draper on Mad Men, he's a lovable himbo on Parks & Recreation and 30 Rock, and he's a doer of funny things on the internet.

But most fans wouldn't know about his dark past, and we mean... super dark.

When Hamm was a sophomore in college at the University of Texas in 1990, he was involved in an incident at the Sigma Nu fraternity which ended in him being charged with hazing, along with other fraternity members involved.

The accusations in the eventual 1991 lawsuit were so serious that the fraternity where the alleged incident took place was permanently shut down.

Hamm was 20 years old at the time and the pledge, Mark Allen Sanders, claims that Jon Hamm was one of the ringleaders in the attack. According to the lawsuit, Hamm became “mad, I mean really mad” because the pledge failed to recite something he was instructed to memorise.

According to court records, the pledge claimed that Hamm set his jeans on fire, shoved his face in dirt before hitting him with a paddle. “He rears back and hits me left-handed, and he hit me right over my right kidney, I mean square over it,” the lawsuit stated. “Good solid hit and that, that stood me right up.”

The incident took place in an area of the Sigma Nu house called the 'Party Room' where Sanders said he had the claw of a hammer hooked underneath his crotch as he was led around the room.

In the lawsuit, Sanders said that Hamm participated in the hazing incident “till the very end.”

After the alleged attack, Sanders said he needed medical care and withdrew from the university. Along with Hamm, four other fraternity members were charged and pleaded no contest to misdemeanour hazing charges.

According to AP News, after Hamm was charged with hazing he received deferred adjudication, which meant he had to successfully complete probation but was never convicted.

A separate charge of assault was eventually dismissed.

Jon Hamm at the University of Texas in 1990. Image: Cactus Yearbook.

In a 2018 interview Esquire, the Emmy-nominated actor was asked about the charges, which was the first time Hamm addressed the allegations which started circulating in 2015.

Hamm did not take kindly to being asked about the 1990 incident. "His tone becomes tinged with anger," the journalist described, as the Mad Man star replied, “I hope I didn’t sign up for a hit piece."

The actor went on to downplay the coverage of Sanders' allegations.

“Everything about that is sensationalised. 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," he said.

"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.”

After the alleged assault, Sanders resumed his education at Texas Christian University studying law and medicine.

According to Daily Mail, he works as a doctor and an attorney specialising in medical malpractice and personal injury.

This article was originally published on July 15, 2023 and has since been updated with new information.

Feature image: Getty.

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