Shia LaBeouf had a long way to go to rehabilitate his reputation after a traffic stop in 2017, in which he told a black policeman that he was going to hell because of the color of his skin, accused him of arresting him for being white and spoke about his wife watching porn with “black dicks”. But after a humble public apology, a year of probation and participating in anger management therapy, he seemed to have succeeded.
Hits like Dear boy (which he also wrote) and The peanut butter falcon it regained the public and seemed to be on an upward trajectory. There were even credible reports from Variety that Marvel Studios was considering him for an important role as MCU, which would have marked his complete return to first-rate acting.
Then, his former partner Tahliah Barnett (also known as award-winning musician FKA Twigs) sued him for sexual assault, aggression and the imposition of emotional suffering. This alleged a shocking litany of abusive behavior, including strangulation, beatings, intentionally infecting her with an STD and boasting about driving around Los Angeles and shooting stray dogs. The lawsuit says her “admission to such cruelty to animals” left her “deeply disturbed and terrified.”
I suspect, rightly or wrongly, that the public is able to forgive racism, violence and domestic abuse – but killing dogs for fun is another matter. As such, scooper Daniel Richtman is reporting that LaBeouf is now completely blacklisted in Hollywood. It has been removed from all roles in which it was cast, is not linked to any future project and will not be considered for any high profile role. At least, not for a long, long time.
In response to the allegations, LaBeouf released a statement saying “he is sorry for those he hurt”. His lawyer told Variety that:
“Shia needs help and he knows it. We are actively seeking the kind of meaningful, intensive and long-term hospital treatment that he desperately needs.
This means that he is facing a longer – possibly permanent – spell in the desert. And rightly so. ‘Canceling culture’ is basically an invention of the right-wing media, but if it existed, it should be used in scum as Shia LaBeouf who are apparently proud to kill animals.