All Aboard the Shia LePoof Hate Train!

abyzmul · Oct 9, 2014

Most Hollywood douchebags garner a fair amount of hate, deservedly, but it's rare that one of them spirals down the turdchute this quickly. The bad movies, drunken outbursts, having a face that is just asking to a sledgehammer, etc.

This thread is devoted to hating this motherfucking shitbag.

I present to you, Shia LePoof, serial plagiarist:

http://www.wired.com/2013/12/shia-labeouf-dan-clowes-comic/

Shia LaBeouf’s critically acclaimed 2012 short HowardCantour.com was available online today — until people familiar with indie comics noticed its remarkable resemblance to Justin M. Damiano, a 2007 comic by Ghost World creator Dan Clowes. The video, available on the short’s official website, suddenly became password protected shortly after bloggers started commenting on the similarities this afternoon.

How closely does the film, which appeared at several film festivals, hew to the comic? Well, both open with exactly the same monologue from their eponymous leads: “A critic is a warrior, and each of us on the battlefield have the means to glorify or demolish (whether a film, a career, or an entire philosophy) by influencing perception in ways that if heartfelt and truthful, can have far-reaching repercussions.”

Both stories then switch to a scene wherein the titular critic discusses a film with a freelance critic he dislikes, who asks whether he’s attending a junket where the director will be present. In Clowes’, the freelance critic explains that the director “so perfectly gets how we’re really all like these aliens who can never have any meaningful contact with each other because we’re all so caught up in our own little self-made realities, you know?” In LaBeouf’s short, she says the director “so perfectly gets how we’re all like these aliens to one another, who never have any meaningful contact with one another because we’re all so caught up in our little self-made realities, you know?”

In fact, a lot of dialogue in HowardCantour.com appears lifted almost directly from the Clowes story — Howard’s narration throughout the short is almost verbatim, except where characters’ names are different. Somewhat amazingly,HowardCantour.com isn’t an official adaptation of Justin M. Damiano, and Clowes is absent from the credits, which simply describe the short as “A Film By Shia LaBeouf.”

LaBeouf did not respond to a request for comment. LaBeouf, who has created comics of his own and is a fan of Clowes’ work has been caught plagiarizing before. He has said the genesis of the short film was his attempt to understand those who would comment on his work. “I have been crushed by critics (especially during myTransformers run), and in trying to come to terms with my feelings about critics, I needed to understand them,” he told the Short of the Week website. “As I tried to empathize with the sort of man who might earn a living taking potshots at me and the people I’ve worked with, a small script developed.”

In the most sympathetic reading of this situation, LaBeouf’s HowardCantour.comis a fan film tribute to Clowes’ Justin M. Damiano that, by accident or design, “forgets” to credit the source material. Consider it the big budget equivalent of one of those Batman videos you’d find on YouTube — except, considering that those movies normally come up with their own storylines and dialogue, it’s actually far less original and much more immoral.

“My first reaction, before I even watched it, was basically that as much as the plot sounded like the Justin M. Damiano, I presumed that LaBeouf would be smart enough to change everything just enough to make it his own thing and shield himself from any legal liability, even if it didn’t excuse him from being a weasel,” said Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics, which publishes Clowes’ comics. “Which is why, when I actually started watching it, I almost spit out my coffee when I realized he lifted the script, word for word.”

“The more I think about this,” he continued, “the more I’m fairly convinced that LaBeouf at least subconsciously knew what he was doing. He never completely claims ownership of the script, as near as I can tell; the credits conspicuously do NOT credit a screenwriter or source material, stating simply, ‘A Film by Shia LaBeouf.’ When you look at that, coupled with the quote he gave “Short Film of the Week” about how details in his own life informed the script, it’s clear he’s trying to claim authorship without ever stating outright, ‘I wrote this!’ Which makes it even more egregiously shameless, in my mind.”
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But let's not stop there, LePoof issued an "apology":

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jordanzakarin/shia-labeouf-rip-off-daniel-clowes-howard-cantour#266g4c7

Copying isn’t particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else’s idea to produce something new and different IS creative work. In my excitement and naïveté as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process and neglected to follow proper accreditation. Im embarrassed that I failed to credit @danielclowes for his original graphic novella Justin M. Damiano, which served as my inspiration. I was truly moved by his piece of work & I knew that it would make a poignant & relevant short. I apologize to all who assumed I wrote it. I deeply regret the manner in which these events have unfolded and want @danielclowes to know that I have a great respect for his work.
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Part of his "apology" can be found, word for word, in a response on fucking Yahoo! Answers:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100226121955AA5dgbh

Lili answered 5 years ago
Merely copying isn't particularly creative work, though it's useful as training and practice. Being inspired by someone else's idea to produce something new and different IS creative work, and it may even revolutionalize the "stolen" concept.
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More hate to come...

abyzmul · Oct 9, 2014

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/nailbiter111/news/?a=91733

Further plagiarism, this time Charles Bukowski and Benoît Duteurtre.

Then his further apologies are ripped off from Tiger Woods and General Robert McNamara:

Two days ago, Shia LaBeouf released his short HowardCantour.com onto the internet. Not long after, several people noticed that Shia's short plagiarized from Daniel Clowes' 2007 comic, Justin M. Damiano. Most of the film features word-for-word dialogue and shot-for-shot scenes as seen in Clowes' comic. Shia even issued an apology, but that too was plagiarized from Yahoo! Answers. Wait, it gets better. Instead of letting Shia off the hook for plagiarism Daniel Clowes is planning on pursuing legal action against the Transformers star.

“His apology is a non-apology, absolving himself of the fact that he actively misled, at best, and lied, at worst, about the genesis of the film,” Reynolds wrote to BuzzFeed in an email on Tuesday. “No one ‘assumes’ authorship for no reason. He implied authorship in the film credits itself, and has gone even further in interviews. He clearly doesn’t get it, and that’s disturbing. I’m not sure if it’s more disturbing that he plagiarized, or that he could rationalize it enough to think it was OK and that he might actually get away with it. Fame clearly breeds a false sense of security.”

Comic writer Josh Farkas and BuzzFeed did some digging, and noticed an unsettling amount of evidence that Shia LaBeouf plagiarized from several other writers to create his "original" comics, Let’s Fucking Party and Stale N Mate. The writers that Shia "borrowed" from are Charles Bukowski and Benoît Duteurtre. Below, I've added pages from Shia's comics and the original quotes from the original writers, that he of course forgot to credit.

Benoît Duteurtre's "The Little Girl and the Cigarette” - Page 10:
"Seemingly indifferent to the fate that awaited him, Désiré Johnson continued to look obstinate. In the antechamber of the execution room, a silent exchange pitted the condemned man,a tall young black man, very calm under his dreadlocks, against the director of the institution, a Vietnamese law-school graduate, recently promoted to the directorship of this ultramodern prison to ensure that a dozen capital executions were smoothly carried out there every year."

Benoît Duteurtre's "The Little Girl and the Cigarette”:
"Désiré Johnson followed his guards towards death row, in a direction that he was the first to take. As he was returning to life, all he did was mumble, as if other people were trying as hard as they could to complicate his life:“I wasn’t asking for much.””

Assault by Charles Bukowski:
Lorca was shot down in the road but here
in America the poets never anger anybody.
the poets don’t gamble.
their poetry has the smell of clinics.
their poetry has the smell of clinics.
where people die rather then live.
here they don’t assassinate the poets
they don’t even notice the poets.

Duteurtre wrote: "Unaware of the debate that was going on in the wings, these individuals patiently awaited the beginning of the spectacle.”

And this morning, the 27-year-old actor went to Twitter again to offer another insincere apology.

Sounds good, right? Wrong! The Film Stage was the first to spot that the tweet above and the one below are word-for-word lifted from Tiger Woods and General Robert McNamara.

Looks like we might have an Amanda Bynes-like mental breakdown going on here.
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abyzmul · Oct 9, 2014

Here's an email he sent to Alec Baldwin in 2013:

Here's the article he ripped it off from, almost word for word:

http://www.esquire.com/features/what-is-a-man-0509

A man carries cash. A man looks out for those around him — woman, friend, stranger. A man can cook eggs. A man can always find something good to watch on television. A man makes things — a rock wall, a table, the tuition money. Or he rebuilds — engines, watches, fortunes. He passes along expertise, one man to the next. Know-how survives him. This is immortality. A man can speak to dogs. A man fantasizes that kung fu lives deep inside him somewhere. A man knows how to sneak a look at cleavage and doesn't care if he gets busted once in a while. A man is good at his job. Not his work, not his avocation, not his hobby. Not his career. His job. It doesn't matter what his job is, because if a man doesn't like his job, he gets a new one.

A man can look you up and down and figure some things out. Before you say a word, he makes you. From your suitcase, from your watch, from your posture. A man infers.

A man owns up. That's why Mark McGwire is not a man. A man grasps his mistakes. He lays claim to who he is, and what he was, whether he likes them or not.

Some mistakes, though, he lets pass if no one notices. Like dropping the steak in the dirt.

A man loves the human body, the revelation of nakedness. He loves the sight of the pale breast, the physics of the human skeleton, the alternating current of the flesh. He is thrilled by the snatch, by the wrist, the sight of a bare shoulder. He likes the crease of a bent knee. When his woman bends to pick up her underwear, he feels that thrum that only a man can feel.

A man doesn't point out that he did the dishes.

A man looks out for children. Makes them stand behind him.

A man knows how to bust balls.

A man has had liquor enough in his life that he can order a drink without sounding breathless, clueless, or obtuse. When he doesn't want to think, he orders bourbon or something on tap.

Never the sauvignon blanc.

A man welcomes the coming of age. It frees him. It allows him to assume the upper hand and teaches him when to step aside.

Maybe he never has, and maybe he never will, but a man figures he can knock someone, somewhere, on his ass.

He does not rely on rationalizations or explanations. He doesn't winnow, winnow, winnow until truths can be humbly categorized, or intellectualized, until behavior can be written off with an explanation. He doesn't see himself lost in some great maw of humanity, some grand sweep. That's the liberal thread; it's why men won't line up as liberals.

A man gets the door. Without thinking.

He stops traffic when he must.

A man resists formulations, questions belief, embraces ambiguity without making a fetish out of it. A man revisits his beliefs. Continually. That's why men won't forever line up with conservatives, either.

A man knows his tools and how to use them — just the ones he needs. Knows which saw is for what, how to find the stud, when to use galvanized nails.

A miter saw, incidentally, is the kind that sits on a table, has a circular blade, and is used for cutting at precise angles. Very satisfying saw.

A man knows how to lose an afternoon. Drinking, playing Grand Theft Auto, driving aimlessly, shooting pool.

He knows how to lose a month, also.

A man listens, and that's how he argues. He crafts opinions. He can pound the table, take the floor. It's not that he must. It's that he can.

A man is comfortable being alone. Loves being alone, actually. He sleeps.

Or he stands watch. He interrupts trouble. This is the state policeman. This is the poet. Men, both of them.

A man loves driving alone most of all.

Style — a man has that. No matter how eccentric that style is, it is uncontrived. It's a set of rules.

He understands the basic mechanics of the planet. Or he can close one eye, look up at the sun, and tell you what time of day it is. Or where north is. He can tell you where you might find something to eat or where the fish run. He understands electricity or the internal-combustion engine, the mechanics of flight or how to figure a pitcher's ERA.

A man does not know everything. He doesn't try. He likes what other men know.

A man can tell you he was wrong. That he did wrong. That he planned to. He can tell you when he is lost. He can apologize, even if sometimes it's just to put an end to the bickering.

A man does not wither at the thought of dancing. But it is generally to be avoided.

A man watches. Sometimes he goes and sits at an auction knowing he won't spend a dime, witnessing the temptation and the maneuvering of others. Sometimes he stands on the street corner watching stuff. This is not about quietude so much as collection. It is not about meditation so much as considering. A man refracts his vision and gains acuity. This serves him in every way. No one taught him this — to be quiet, to cipher, to watch. In this way, in these moments, the man is like a zoo animal: both captive and free. You cannot take your eyes off a man when he is like that. You shouldn't. The hell if you know what he is thinking, who he is, or what he will do next.
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abyzmul · Oct 9, 2014

Here is an email exchange with a comics site writer and Shia LePoof. His responses to the writer are mostly plagiarized:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/01...abeouf/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Almost two years ago, writer/director/actor/comics creator Shia LaBeouf contacted Bleeding Cool about the mini-comics he was creating and selling at Meltdown Comics in LA.

After the skywriting stunt yesterday, and the continual “repurposed” apologies to Dan Clowes from other people, over the plagiarism of Clowes’ work in LaBeouf’s most recent short film, I came across the address again.

I sent an e-mail. Minutes later I had a reply. And so last night, I was up until half past three, deep in conversation with the man about art, apology and plagiarism. Here’s how it went down. And a quick Google search indicates that they appear to be in Shia’s own words as well.

Richard Johnston: Tweeting with the voice of others.Is this art?

Shia LaBeouf: What does an artist do – they just point and say look at this.

RJ: No, that’s what a critic does. I am certainly interested though.

SL: I agree with Julian Schnabel , Jeff koons, Duchamp ect……
You agree with?

RJ: Scott McCloud.

SL: Cool, u stick with ur squad
I’m good with mine
Live good player

RJ: Do you believe art needs an audience? When they point and say “look at this” do they need to be speaking to anyone other than themselves?

SL: Of course – art is not about itself, but the attention we bring to it. (UPDATE – Duchamp)
Art is a lie the makes us realize the truth. (UPDATE – Pica
In the 21st century there is NO personal language.
Just personal selection of language.
We are products of editing. (UPDATE – George Ward)
Not authorship.
Appropriation has been the most influential theme in art sense the 70s.
If you look at Warhol’s work and say ” oh well he didn’t paint that – its just silk screens ”
Your missing the point.
Our notion of genius- a romantic – isolated figure – is fucking outdated
An updated notion of genius would have to center around ones mastery of information (UPDATE – see footnote below)
And it’s dissemination
It’s the 21st century, thug life
It wants to be fee.

RJ: Well, Warhol said art is what you can get away with. Gaugin went for “Art is either plagiarism or revolution”. Do you believe that opportunity is still valid, or is it all about plagiarism now?

As for “it wants to be fee” – is that a Freudian slip? Information may want to be free. But should the author be able to demand a fee?

SL: Authorship is censorship
Should God sue me if I paint a river?
Should we give people the death sentence for parking violations-
You’ll not only have less parking violations but less DRIVERS.

RJ: Jung said the only way to achieve true selfhood is to create what no one but you could possibly create and all the other stories are just guides to get us there.

I think God’s rights to rivers have entered into public domain now.

I don’t believe that parking violations deserve the death sentence. However fines are meant to be paid. If you park on someone else’s driveway, you should probably ask permission first. And hotwiring someone else’s car and taking it for a spin, is also frowned upon.

SL: The word law is against my principles.
The problem begins with the legal fact that authorship is inextricably
bound up in the idea of ownership and the idea of language as
Intellectual property. Language and ideas flow freely between people
Despite the law. (UPDATE: Gregory Betts) It’s not plagiarism in the digital age – it’s repurposing. (UPDATE: Kenneth Goldsmith)
Copyright law has to give up on its obsession with “the copy” (UPDATE- Lawrence Lessig)
The law should not regulate “copy’s” or “reproductions” on there own.
It should instead regulate uses – like public distributions of copyrighted work -
That connect directly to the economic incentive copyright law was intended to foster. (UPDATE:Lawrence Lessig)
The author was the person who had been authorized by the state to print there work.
They were the ones to be held accountable for the ideas.
THE FIRST LAWS ON AUTHORSHIP WERE USED TO CENSOR & PERSECUTE
THE WRITERS WHO DARED PUBLISH RADICAL IDEAS.
Simple – should creation have to check with a lawyer?

RJ: Do you recognize an inherent hypocrisy in your principles, in that you are a direct beneficiary of current copyright law, in that you have financially benefited from it to a far greater extent than most authors will ever achieve? That your acting work that has netted you millions and given you the financial independence that the vast majority of people can only dream of, is inherently a result of such laws? And that speaking or working against them in this fashion when they are the very reason that your word carries such weight and impact, can rub the wrong way those who rely on such laws to earn a small living? Can you hold a principle, when you reason you can hold it so comfortably is that you have benefited from the opposite of that principle being maintained?

But I come back to the original question. Is the repurposing of other people’s apologies for your own on Twitter art… or laziness? Is it an attempt to create, or is it simple dickishness? Can it be both? Is there an inherent hypocrisy in apologising for reproducing someone’s work without their permission on film, by reproducing other people’s work without their permission on social media? Is it all part of a wider plan, a wider statement, a wider artistic endeavour, or is an attempt to wind people up? Or is it both?

SL: Both
I never asked to be paid
And never profited off anyone’s back
acting is Plagiarism
Like magicians
We tell you we’re gonna lie to you

RJ: You have an agent. You have lawyers. Do you not pay them to ask for you to be paid, on your behalf? Aren’t you just outsourcing the request to be paid?

And can acting be plagiarism when it is being conducted with the author or owner’s approval, when they are credited as author or owner, when they are paid as author or owner?

When you apologize, Shia, is that the truth?

SL: I’m very sorry
I have agents to suss out material
I have a lawyer to get me out of jail
Nothing is original
Creativity is just connecting things (UPDATE: Steve Jobs)

—-

And with that, we left it. The conversation continues, if only in our own heads.

If you quote from this conversation, Bleeding Cool would appreciate a mention, though Shia doesn’t mind too much, it seems. Also I’d like to credit Hannah Means-Shannon for the Jungian point.

UPDATE: We are updating any plagiarisms made by Shia in this interview within the piece, but this was offline and too big.

“our notion of genius — a romantic isolated figure — is outdated. An updated notion of genius would have to center around one’s mastery of information and its dissemination.” – Uncreative Writing by Kenneth Goldsmith.

Thanks to Dr. Darren Wershler. Concordia University Research Chair in Media and Contemporary Literature, for that spot. Also, thanks to OhSnapSki and Glitchy.
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abyzmul · Oct 9, 2014

In February, when he wore a paper bag on his head at his shitty movie premier:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shia-labeouf-at-nymphomaniac-premiere-678711

Earlier in the day, LaBeouf abruptly walked out of a press conference after responding to just one question about being in a film with so many sex scenes.

He slowly and deliberately said: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much.”

Then, he got up and left the room. The quote is from French soccer legend Eric Cantona, who said it at a press conference in 1995.
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JetsVilma28 · Oct 9, 2014

He stole a mcdonalds bag from a homeless man in NYC. He cut his own face for the movie fury. He was in the Wall Street sequel, a movie regrettably made.

He ruined Indiana Jones trilogy

abyzmul · Oct 9, 2014

JetsVilma28 said: ↑

He ruined Indiana Jones trilogy
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Fucking aliens.

mute · Oct 9, 2014

It worked well for Steven Spielberg.

abyzmul · Oct 9, 2014

mute said: ↑

It worked well for Steven Spielberg.
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Until that shitshow Indiana Jones abomination. 20 times worse than Temple of Doom.

Umphpool · Oct 9, 2014

Still think hes a decent actor though, even though he's crazy

abyzmul · Oct 9, 2014

hahahahaha

Dierking · Oct 9, 2014

That's a lot of hate to have worked up over what appears to be some inconsequential fourth rate sho-biz hack.

I need to conserve my hate so I can concentrate it appropriately towards some inconsequential fourth rate message board posters. I just have none to spare for this cause.

I assume you understand.

3rdAnd15Draw · Oct 9, 2014

The paper bag on the head is douchebaggery but issuing phony insincere apologies by copy other peoples phone insincere apologies is pretty fucking funny. Seems like he's just trolling a bunch of self important assholes, I think I might be a fan now.

74 · Oct 9, 2014

He's fucking with us.

More like trying to and failing hard.

He wears paper bag on his head, must be a Jets fan.

good thing he's wearing it cuz he has a face that screams "punch me".

Red Menace · Oct 9, 2014

The guy yelled more than Megan fox in the transformer movies, he ruined the movies for me.

I grew up with these cartoons and when they finally were able to put them on screen, what a let down.

All that being said, he has talent, it's just not being used correctly, maybe his manager is also from the Ryan family.

Poeman · Oct 9, 2014

He may be a dumbass, but I find him to be a good actor.

He was great in Lawless and I will go see the new Brad Pitt movie (Fury) he has a role in there too.

Poeman · Oct 9, 2014

Red Menace said: ↑

The guy yelled more than Megan fox in the transformer movies, he ruined the movies for me.

I grew up with these cartoons and when they finally were able to put them on screen, what a let down.

All that being said, he has talent, it's just not being used correctly, maybe his manager is also from the Ryan family.
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Blame Michael Bay...Not Shia Laboeuf

74 · Oct 9, 2014

He acts like a shitty version of John Cusack.

Faux machine · Oct 9, 2014

Gay.

Barry the Baptist · Oct 10, 2014

Mangolden Showers said: ↑

He acts like a shitty version of John Cusack.
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Even Cusack had Pushing Tin and High Fidelity, I honestly can't think of anything worth the phlegm on the street that this clown has been in.

All Aboard the Shia LePoof Hate Train!

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