Shia LaBeouf, the actor best known for yelling at robots in the Transformers franchise, has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery charges stemming from a February incident at a New Orleans bar where he allegedly punched two men and head-butted a third. The plea, entered Wednesday in the city’s criminal district courthouse, earned him a two-year probation sentence, along with court-ordered rehabilitation for alcohol abuse, sensitivity training, and anger management classes. Should he fail to complete probation successfully, the local district attorney’s office says he’ll have to spend six months in New Orleans’s jail - presumably giving him ample time to reflect on his life choices.
LaBeouf’s attorney, Sarah Chervinsky, gamely described the whole affair as “nothing more than a minor … bar tussle” on the morning of Mardi Gras, despite police reports and multiple videos showing the actor aiming anti-gay slurs at his victims. Chervinsky denied that bias played any role in LaBeouf’s actions, which is a bold claim given the evidence. One of the alleged victims, Jeffrey Damnit (formerly Klein), recorded a cellphone video of LaBeouf calling him a homophobic slur outside the R Bar in the Marigny neighborhood at about 12:45 a.m. on February 17. Bar staff had already asked LaBeouf to leave after he became increasingly aggressive and insulted the men he battered.
LaBeouf was briefly jailed after being discharged from a hospital where he was taken at the time of his arrest, but he was soon released after posting a $105,000 bond and being ordered by a judge to enroll in substance abuse treatment. The formal charges were filed by New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams’ office on May 21. Williams said his office consulted with all victims before the plea, and all of them “supported the resolution reached.” Damnit’s attorney, Michael Kennedy, noted that the outcome was a reminder that everyone in New Orleans is “equal, and we don’t treat people differently based upon relative fame.” LaBeouf, who bought a home in New Orleans in December, reportedly went to court “wanting to take accountability,” according to Chervinsky.
This isn’t LaBeouf’s first rodeo with the criminal justice system. He was arrested in 2014 for disrupting a Broadway show and allegedly insulting a police officer with a homophobic slur. In 2017, he was arrested for disorderly conduct in Savannah, Georgia, during which he was recorded saying police were racist and that a Black officer would go to hell. That incident also led to court-mandated rehab. In an interview published less than two weeks after the New Orleans arrest, LaBeouf told YouTube’s Channel 5 that “big gay people are scary” to him given his “traditional Catholic” faith, and claimed that “three gay dudes [were] next to me, touching my leg” before the violence. “I [got] scared,” he said. “I’m sorry - if that’s homophobic, then I’m that.”