Throwback to When Shia LaBeouf’s Stunts Sparked Accusations of Plagiarism—Here’s What He Did! (Photo Credit – Wikimedia)
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Alright, buckle up for this one. Remember when Shia LaBeouf decided to play copycat on the grand stage? He didn’t just borrow ideas; he practically stole the blueprint. Even his apologies were plagiarized. The guy tried to pass it off as “performance art.” Yep, that’s right. Shia said it was all part of the plan. Meta, how much?
It all started in 2013 when Shia bailed on his first Broadway gig, Orphans. The official reason? “Creative differences” with Alec Baldwin (translation: they couldn’t stand each other). So, how did Shia smooth things over? He tweeted out a heartfelt apology email to Baldwin and the cast. Only problem? His “original” words were straight-up ripped from a 2009 Esquire article called “What is a Man?” Classy move, right?
When folks started calling him out, did he back down? No. He threw in some David Mamet quotes to justify the swipe. Like, dude, we get it—you know how to cite sources—but using them correctly? That’s a different story.
Then came his short film HowardCantour.com. The Cannes debut turned heads for all the wrong reasons. It was a scene-for-scene copy of a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. And guess what? Clowes had yet to learn. The guy found out after the film went live online. Talk about getting blindsided.
And when did Shia decide to apologize for that mess? You guessed it—he lifted the whole thing from a Yahoo! Answers post. At this point, he’s making copy-pasting look like an Olympic sport. He didn’t stop there, though. Shia hit us with apologies straight from the words of Tiger Woods, Robert McNamara, Kanye West, Shepard Fairey, and even Mark Zuckerberg. This guy went on a celebrity quote spree like it was a buffet.
Oh, and his self-published graphic novels? It turns out that he “borrowed” lines from literary heavyweights like Charles Bukowski and Benoit Duteurtre. When people called him out on it, he did what any reasonable person would do—hired a skywriter to write an apology over L.A. Spoiler: Daniel Clowes lives in the Bay Area, so he didn’t even see it. Ouch.
And just when you thought he’d cooled down, Shia showed up at the Nymphomaniac premiere with a paper bag over his head that read, “I am not famous anymore.” Sound familiar? Sia beat him to that punch with her Billboard cover. Not exactly original, huh?
The grand finale? A bizarre walkout at a press conference when he quoted French soccer legend Eric Cantona’s line: “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.” Then he stormed off, leaving everyone scratching their heads.
Shia called it performance art, but it looked more like a masterclass in unoriginality. The dude wasn’t just inspired—he was copying and pasting his way through Hollywood!
