Jon Hamm Allegedly Tortured a Fraternity Pledge's Genitals During College Hazing

Jon Hamm took part in a fraternity hazing in college so horrific that it led to eight arrests, including the actor's, and the fraternity chapter permanently closing, The Associated Press reports.

The Mad Men star was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity at the University of Texas in 1990 when he allegedly beat a pledge, set him on fire and used a hammer on his genitals during a violent hazing ritual, according a 1991 lawsuit that leaked earlier this week and was obtained by the AP.

According to the pledge, Mark Allen Sanders, Hamm and the other frat members struck him more than 30 times with a wooden paddle. "He rears back and hits me left-handed, and he hit me right over my right kidney, I mean square over it," Sanders said in the lawsuit. "Good solid hit and that, that stood me right up."

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Sanders claims he was also held up by his underwear, which was pulled "back and forth in a sawing motion," The Daily Mail reports. Hamm then allegedly took him into the basement "Pit," where the actor slammed the victim's face into the ground and stood on his spine with his full weight.

Hamm went on to set Sanders' pants on fire "and would not let [the pledge] extinguish the flame with his hand but made [him] blow it out," according to the suit. He then reportedly "hooked the claw of a hammer underneath [the pledge's] genitals and led him by the hammer around the room."

The court documents, which were first reported by Star Magazine, state that Hamm broke into another pledge's room that night and subjected him to the same torture.

The following morning, the mother of the first pledge reportedly found her son "hiding in the closet at his apartment, his buttocks and legs black with bruises." Despite the pledge's pleas not to, the mother reported the hazing to the police, leading to the arrests of Hamm and seven other fraternity members. Three were sentenced to 30 days in jail, while Hamm received probation. His charges of misdemeanor hazing and assault were dismissed after he reached a plea deal. The lawsuit was dropped in 1993, and Sigma Nu closed down and never reopened, the AP reports.

Hamm, who has not commented on the suit, withdrew from the University of Texas after the semester the hazing took place and returned home to Missouri.