Actor Shia LaBeouf was arrested in New Orleans after what police described as “causing a disturbance and becoming increasingly aggressive” in the French Quarter.
He was reported to have punched people and shouted anti-gay slurs, and was charged with two counts of simple battery. On Friday, February 27, the 39-year-old LaBeouf voluntarily turned himself into the Orleans Parish Prison after an additional arrest warrant went out, this one for an additional count of simple battery related to the February 17 incident. An hour-long interview between LaBeouf and Andrew Callaghan went up on YouTube and quickly racked up over a million views. In it, LaBeouf discusses the February 17 incident, his sobriety, his relationships with Mia Goth and FKA twigs, and more.
LaBeouf spoke numerous times in the interview about being inebriated during the February 17 incident. “I was drunk, and I felt infringed upon, in terms of my proximity,” he said early on. “But I wasn’t in my right mind, so it’s on me.” He’s been in recovery for substance abuse before, but said he fell off the wagon nine months before the incident. At one point during the interview, he got up from the interview to get a beer. At the same time, he also said, “I don’t think I have a drinking problem. I think I have a different problem, and I’m going to address it.”
When Callaghan asked what kind of things set off LaBeouf’s anger, the actor talked about how “big gay people are scary to me. When I’m standing by myself and three gay dudes are next to me touching my leg, I get scared. I’m sorry. If that’s homophobic, then I’m that.”