MC Hammer, who gave rise to Hammer pants, the cartoon Hammerman and reality show Hammertime, doesn’t actually like hammers, it has emerged.

In news that will come as a shock to fans of 90s hip-hop pop bangers everywhere, the rapper admitted: “Using hammers is always a scary proposition, man.

“You can hit your fingers,” he told The Huffington Post. “So I try my best to not have to hammer too many things.”

Of course, MC Hammer aficionados will know that the 54-year-old didn’t take his name from the hand tool, but was given it as a nickname by Hall of Fame baseball player Reggie Jackson while he was working at the Oakland A’s clubhouse as a kid.

“You look a lot like Hammerin’ Hank Aaron and I’m [going to] call you the little Hammer,” Jackson told Hammer - real name Stanley Kirk Burrell - when he was nine.