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.
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