By JACK BROOK Associated Press/Report for America
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Actor Shia LaBeouf was sentenced to probation Wednesday after pleading guilty to punching three people outside a New Orleans bar during Mardi Gras.
LaBeouf must attend an alcohol treatment program under the sentence handed down by an Orleans Parish judge, according to Sarah Chervinsky, an attorney for the actor.
LeBeouf, most widely known for his starring roles in 2007’s “Transformers” and in 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull,” had been released on bail following his arrest near the city’s historic French Quarter. Video of the Feb. 17 encounter shows a shirtless LaBeouf outside a bar shoving one person to the ground and hitting another person in the face, “causing his nose to possibly dislocate,” according to a New Orleans police report. Police said LaBeouf repeatedly used homophobic slurs, including while he was arrested.
LeBeouf pleaded guilty to three counts of simple battery. Orleans Parish Judge Juana Marine-Lombard handed the actor a six month suspended sentence and two years of probation. LaBeouf also must stay away from the victims and the bar.
Chervinsky said LaBeouf wanted “to take accountability for his part in what happened” and called it a “minor Mardi Gras bar tussle.” Chervinsky said there was “no evidence it was about bias or prejudice.”
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said in a statement that his office consulted with the victims to ensure their support before offering LaBeouf the plea deal.
Jeffrey Damnit, a local entertainer whom police identified as Jeffrey Klein, said he was one of the people attacked by LaBeouf. He has said LaBeouf had pushed him from behind at the bar earlier in the night, shouting homophobic slurs and threatening his life.
Damnit’s attorney said his client hopes LaBeouf’s behavior improves after the actor undergoes substance abuse treatment.
“In New Orleans we are all equal, we should all feel safe, and we don’t treat people different based upon relative fame,” attorney Michael Kennedy said.
After LaBeouf was charged in February, a judge ordered him to return to drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
Days later, LaBeouf denied having a “drinking problem” in an interview with journalist and YouTuber Andrew Callaghan. LaBeouf said he doubted rehab would help him. He told Callaghan that the issues leading led to his aggressive behavior during Mardi Gras were more rooted in “anger and ego” than alcohol.
LaBeouf also said that “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,” he told Callaghan. “I’m sorry. If that’s homophobic, then I’m that.”
LaBeouf, who converted to Catholicism a few years ago, has had several run-ins with the law during his career, including a 2017 New York City arrest on suspicion of assault that happened during a livestream.
While on location in Georgia filming “The Peanut Butter Falcon” later that year, he was arrested for public drunkenness and accused of disorderly conduct and obstruction and sentenced to probation.
In 2020, he was charged with misdemeanor battery and petty theft in Los Angeles.
That year, the English singer and actor FKA Twigs, whose legal name is Tahliah Barnett, also filed a lawsuit alleging LaBeouf was physically and emotionally abusive to her during their relationship, which they settled in July.
The actor first gained acclaim as a child for his role on the Disney Channel series “Even Stevens.”
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.