Shia LaBeouf allegedly called queer man homophobic slurs before New Orleans arrest

The actor Shia LaBeouf allegedly aimed homophobic slurs at two men – one who identifies as queer and the other who dresses in drag – as the Transformers star was arrested for purportedly battering them at a bar early on Tuesday morning in New Orleans, the victims said.Jeffrey Damnit – who was born with the last name Klein and was listed as one of the victims by New Orleans police – said in an interview on Wednesday that he was wearing mascara, eye shadow and lipstick when LaBeouf tried to beat him up “while screaming, ‘You’re a fucking faggot’”. He also shared a cellphone video showing LaBeouf in the back of a vehicle being examined by first responders, glancing over at Damnit and saying, “Faggot.”“Keep on calling me faggot,” Damnit can be heard saying on the video.Asked by text message if he would like to comment on LaBeouf’s arrest, the other man named by police as a victim in the case – Nathan Thomas Reed – replied: “I want it to be known that he was calling people faggot.” Reed said that included him – and that he identified as a queer man.An initial police report furthermore alleged that LaBeouf was heard saying: “These faggots put me in jail,” while referring to his Catholic faith. That detail was omitted from the sworn police statement summarizing LaBeouf’s arrest on two counts of misdemeanor battery on the morning that New Orleans celebrated its annual Mardi Gras holiday. That affidavit was submitted to the courthouse where a judge ultimately ordered the 39-year-old, award-winning actor released from custody on his own recognizance pending the outcome of the case.Representatives of LaBeouf did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the statements from Damnit, who spent Mardi Gras dressed in drag, and Reed. A police spokesperson declined comment, saying: “This remains an ongoing investigation that has to be adjudicated in court. Should additional information become available for release, we will provide an update accordingly.”Within hours of his release, LaBeouf was seen on Bourbon Street, a prime location during New Orleans’s famed festivities, dancing with Mardi Gras beads around his neck and his release papers in his mouth.“God bless you, guys – Mardi Gras is amazing,” LaBeouf told a reporter from WAFB, a news station from nearby Baton Rouge. The award-winning actor went on to say that the best thing about Mardi Gras was the interesting people he had met.At about 4.30am local time on Ash Wednesday he cryptically wrote on X: “Free me.”Damnit, a frequent New Orleans visitor who resides in Los Angeles and acts, said he hoped Tuesday’s arrest would prompt the Screen Actors Guild president, Sean Astin, to investigate whether it is safe for LaBeouf to work with other members of their union.“At any other day job, that would happen,” Damnit said.The president of the New Orleans Pride Center, Kyle DeVries, also said the allegations of battery and homophobic remarks by LaBeouf came at a particularly precarious time for the LGBTQ+ community his organization serves.LGBTQ+ advocacy groups such as Glaad and the Human Rights Campaign in recent years have documented a rise in attacks based on gender identity as well as sexual orientation in the US. That climate has resulted in part from Republican-controlled states eliminating or restricting rights and protections for members of the LGBTQ+ community. But, as DeVries put it, another has been the casual normalization of hurtful slurs.“When you have someone with celebrity status attacking communities already so under attack, it could give others permission to do the same,” DeVries said, adding that he would like to see LaBeouf’s “peers in Hollywood hold him accountable” for any allegations that are substantiated.“The people who hold the levers of power and determine whether he gets hired for a role or his next project gets funded need to demand … public change before any of that happens,” he continued.Police allege that LaBeouf became increasingly aggressive at an establishment known as R Bar in New Orleans’ Marigny section, which is adjacent to the city’s renowned French Quarter. Damnit said he was at R Bar himself, and it appeared to him that LaBeouf was heavily inebriated.Damnit allowed the Guardian to view multiple videos of LaBeouf getting in a bartender’s face, including one clip which showed the actor animatedly shouting.Court documents state that LaBeouf tried to punch a bar manager who was trying to escort him out of the business. Then, once removed, LaBeouf allegedly punched Damnit – who was helping the bar manager – in the nose.LaBeouf subsequently returned and punched Reed in the nose, though the latter man said he did not want to fight, police said in court documents. In a report reviewed by the Guardian, police claimed LaBeouf repeatedly called Damnit and Reed “faggot”.“These faggots put me in jail – I’m a Catholic,” said LaBeouf, who received news coverage for receiving that faith’s sacrament of confirmation in late 2023.Damnit said LaBeouf also repeatedly told Damnit that he could kill him. Bystanders ultimately held LaBeouf down until police and paramedics arrived. He was taken to a hospital, discharged and then booked with two counts of simple battery.The arrest prompted significant commentary among Mardi Gras revelers. Among them was Damnit, who posted several videos about LaBeouf, including one in which he simultaneously dismissed the actor as “a tool” and expressed a wish that “he finds the help he needs”.Damnit on Wednesday said he thought “you wouldn’t be allowed to party on Bourbon” after LaBeouf’s alleged behavior. And Damnit said it disappointed him to see LaBeouf “was in jail for less time than I slept that night”.A friend of Damnit, the criminal defense attorney Michael Kennedy, was with him on Wednesday and said it was concerning that neither the arrest affidavit filed in court nor a police statement to the media mentioned homophobic slurs. That was the case even when Damnit captured one instance on video.“It sends the wrong message that someone famous can come to our celebration and terrorize other attendees” without meaningful consequence, said Kennedy, who is gay. “That is unacceptable.”LaBeouf’s arrest papers list his address as a home with an assessed property tax value of nearly $840,000 – which was sold in December – in New Orleans’ West Riverside neighborhood. The celebrity news outlet Page Six reported that LaBeouf moved to New Orleans to be closer to family after a split with his wife, the actor and model Mia Goth.Reports of LaBeouf engaging in unruly behavior across New Orleans in the lead-up to the celebration of Mardi Gras there had surfaced for days, including in the Hollywood Reporter.Five months before his move, he settled a lawsuit from the British singer FKA twigs which accused him of sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress during a past relationship. LaBeouf had denied wrongdoing.He has previously discussed his struggles with sobriety, which involved court-mandated rehab after a 2017 arrest in Savannah, Georgia.LaBeouf’s next hearing in New Orleans criminal court was tentatively scheduled for 19 March.Damnit contended that LaBeouf humiliated the acting profession no matter how the case is resolved.“I have a lot less credits than Shia LaBeouf,” Damnit said. “But it is embarrassing for me to have a Hollywood actor show up and embarrass the entire entertainment industry.”