Shia LaBeouf's Biggest Public Missteps
The actor has had more than his share of public missteps in his young career.
Jan. 13, 2014— -- intro: Shia LaBeouf retiring from public life may be about as real as Justin Bieber retiring from music.
But, for the actor who has had a more than a few public missteps since his big break as a teenager, perhaps he's just hoping to lower his profile for a bit.
The "Transformers" star tweeted Friday that he was quitting "public life."
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"In light of the recent attacks against my artistic integrity, I am retiring from all public life," he wrote.
Mind you, LaBeouf's retreat from public life does not include quitting Twitter -- which figures into his recent troubles -- since he was still tweeting today, "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE."
What has led the 27-year-old actor to his latest declaration? Keep reading for a list of LaBeouf biggest public gaffes, starting with his most recent.
Shia LaBeouf Quits 'Public Life'
quicklist:title: Plagiarism Uproartext: LaBeouf's vow to disappear from the spotlight comes amid reports that he ripped off graphic novel writer Daniel Clowes, for his short film, "HowardCantour.com." LaBeouf made the film with actor Jim Gaffigan about a film critic, and despite lifting whole passages from Clowes' story "Justin M. Damiano," failed to credit the writer. "I've never even seen one of his films that I can recall — and I was shocked, to say the least, when I saw that he took the script and even many of the visuals from a very personal story I did six or seven years ago and passed it off as his own work," Clowes told BuzzFeed, which broke the story in December.
At first, LaBeouf tweeted several apologies for getting "lost in the creative process" and neglecting to "follow proper accreditation." He even hired a skywriter on New Year's Eve to display the message, "I AM SORRY DANIEL CLOWES" over the Los Angeles skyline. But by last week, he appeared to be mocking Clowes by tweeting a "storyboard" for his next short film, "Daniel Boring," an apparent reference to Clowes' story "David Boring," and later posting a cease and desist letter from the writer's lawyers.
quicklist: title: LaBeouf Calls Out Alec Baldwintext: The Daniel Clowes' incident wasn't the first time LaBeouf was accused of plagiarism. While apologizing to Alec Baldwin for "his part of a dis-agreeable situation" after exiting their Broadway play "Orphans" in February 2013, LaBeouf lifted passages from an Esquire article. Baldwin blew off the apology anyway, comparing LaBeouf to a celebrity chef in an interview. In return, LaBeouf tweeted an email conversation with the play's director that appeared to portray Baldwin as unprepared for rehearsals. LaBeouf also countered the rumors that he was not up to acting on the stage by posting a video of his audition and emails from the playwright and his co-star Tom Sturridge.
quicklist:title: LaBeouf Swears Off Drinkingtext: In August 2012, the actor told the New York Post he quit drinking after a series of public drunken mishaps, including a car accident and a boozy brawl. In Oct. 2011, a video surfaced online of the actor being punched outside a Vancouver, Canada, bar. That followed a report of another incident in February of the same year, in which he was allegedly involved in a brawl outside a Sherman Oaks, Calif., bar.
quicklist: title: LaBeouf Criticizes Spielberg text: Years after LaBeouf starred in the fourth installment of Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones, the actor went public in 2010 saying Spielberg "dropped the ball." "You can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven," LaBeouf told reporters at Cannes that year. He also took some of the blame, saying: "The actor's job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn't do it. So that's my fault." Two years later, LaBeouf told The Hollywood Reporter that he "deeply regrets" criticizing Spielberg, which he said ruptured their relationship. He also told THR he was done with big-budget film-making.
quicklist:title: LaBeouf Tagged Hollywood's Bad Boytext: In late 2007 and early 2008, soon after LaBeouf's breakthrough, he was arrested at a Chicago Walgreens for criminal trespassing (the charges were later dropped) and was involved in a car accident in Los Angeles, in which he crushed his left hand. In both cases, alcohol was involved. "Drinking and driving is one thing, but drinking and shopping, it's just as bad," LaBeouf joked to David Letterman about the Walgreens incident. After LaBeouf refused a breath test at the site of the car accident, he was arrested for misdemeanor drunk driving, and his driver's license was suspended for one year. In a June 2011 interview with Details magazine, LaBeouf claimed that he and then-girlfriend Isabel Lucas were "philandering around" just before the accident occurred.
