PANNED, CANNED Hammond

Hiring OK! magazine Ruth Hilton as his West Coast editor wasn't the only housecleaning move newly installed Maxim EIC Jim Kaminsky made this weekend: According to sources, the lad mag's PR shill-cum-film critic Peter Hammond, who never met a BRAVURA PIECE OF FILMMAKING! that didn't leave him BREATHLESS!, has been canned.

Hammond, as has been noted elsewhere, was pretty much the definition of a "tool" in his capacity at Maxim, where he continually gave universally decried flicks glowing reviews in order to get his name splashed across newspaper ads. (Of 2007 Jennifer Lopez-Marc Anthony abomination El Cantante, which received a 23 percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes, Hammond writes, "It's hot stuff! Lopez and Anthony set off fireworks.")

A rep for the lad mag confirmed that Hammond was no longer with the magazine. At least studios with crappy product to push still have noted Rolling Stone blurb whore Peter Travers to rely on.

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