Jon Hamm Charged With Hazing During Uni Days

‘Mad Men’ star Jon Hamm took part in a violent initiation ceremony, or hazing, at the University of Texas which led to criminal charges, court records have shown.

The actor had not previously been linked publicly to a lawsuit filed by a member of a fraternity who claimed he was severely beaten, dragged by a hammer and had his trousers set alight.

The 1991 lawsuit said Hamm participated “till the very end”.

Criminal records show the now 44-year-old was charged with hazing and received deferred adjudication, which under Texas law means he had to successfully complete probation but was never convicted.

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A separate charge of assault was dismissed.

None of the records were sealed, but Hamm was not famous when the incident happened and his connection to the case didn’t come to light until Star magazine reported on it this week.

The case resurfaced just as the critically acclaimed ‘Mad Men’ begins airing its final season.

According to the lawsuit, Hamm became “mad, I mean really mad” after the 20-year-old student joining the fraternity failed to recite things he was supposed to memorise about Hamm and other members.

“He rears back and hits me left-handed, and he hit me right over my right kidney, I mean square over it,” Mark Allen Sanders said in the lawsuit.

“Good solid hit and that, that stood me right up.”

Four other fraternity members were charged and pleaded no contest to misdemeanour hazing charges.

The Sigma Nu chapter was shut down and never reopened on campus.

University records show Hamm arrived on campus in the autumn of 1989 and left after the same semester in which the hazing took place.

In a 2008 interview with W Magazine, Hamm said he left school in his second year after his father died and he returned to his home state of Missouri.

In March, Hamm completed a stint in rehab for what his representatives said was treatment for alcohol addiction.

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Image credit: Sky News/AMC/Sky Atlantic