Almost a year after he was arrested for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct while shooting a movie in Savannah, Georgia, Shia LaBeouf is finally breaking his silence on the incident, which also included several videos of his subsequent profane rants in the squad car and at the police station.
Videos by Rare
“What went on in Georgia was mortifying,” the actor said. “White privilege and desperation and disaster … It came from a place of self-centered delusion … It was me trying to absolve myself of guilt for getting arrested. I fucked up.”
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Footage of LaBeouf’s arrest made its rounds on the internet following the ordeal. In it, he threatened to shoot one of the officers while riding in the back of a patrol car, screaming at him, “If I had my gun, I’ll blow your shit up!” In a video taken at the police station, he made racist comments toward an African-American police officer by telling him he’s “going to hell, straight to hell, bro” for working with the police as a black man. In another video, LaBeouf taunted a white police officer, making inappropriate remarks toward him regarding his wife.
“I’m a buffoon,” he said looking back. “My public outbursts are failures. They’re not strategic. They’re a struggling motherfucker showing his ass in front of the world.”
LaBeouf apologized for his behavior in a statement weeks after his arrest, saying, “My outright disrespect for authority is problematic to say the least, and completely destructive to say the worst.” He was court-ordered to attend rehab for 10 weeks.
“I’ve got to look at my failures in the face for a while,” he said. “I need to take ownership of my shit and clean up my side of the street a bit before I can go out there and work again, so I’m trying to stay creative and learn from my mistakes. I’ve been falling forward for a long time. Most of my life. The truth is, in my desperation, I lost the plot.”