'08
Yesterday we published the video above of Shia LaBeouf, who turns 22 today – Happy Birthday Shia! – drunk at what looks like a house party. He’s interacting with another party guest, encouraging the guy to smack him. During their stupid banter before Shia gets smacked, Shia calls the guy a “faggot” in order to encourage him to land the blow.
Today Shia’s rep has issued a statement about the video. He says it was taken several years ago, and that could be true because Shia has such a baby face it’s hard to tell if he’s aged since, and that Shia regrets saying the word in any context and is embarrassed that the video got out. It comes across like a sincere apology and is one that can serve as an example for other celebrities who need to issue statements after saying or doing idiotic things:
“The videotape that is currently being circulated is several years old and captures Shia playing a game among friends in which he uses a derogatory word toward a friend,” LaBeouf’s rep tells me exclusively. “He regrets having used the word in any capacity and is very embarrassed that this footage is being seen by anyone.”
[From Mark Malkin on E! Online]
A lot of you pointed out that Shia pretty openly flipped off David Letterman during an appearance on the show in May. Dave and Shia were talking about Shia’s drunken Walgreen’s arrest, in which he described returning to the drug store twice times in an attempt to get cigarettes after a security guard made fun of him and distracted him from his purchase. Dave joked about Shia changing clothes for his second trip to the store, and Shia subtly flipped him off for a moment. You could tell it was deliberate and not just the way he was gesturing with that hand.
The kid is 22 years old and he’s foolish, but his worst offenses are shopping drunk and smoking outside, and unlike a lot of his peers he’s never been busted for DUI. While he did use a very obnoxious and offensive word in a video taken at a party, he apologized properly and sounds like he regrets it.
Amy Winehouse has also sort-of apologized for the many slurs she used in a stupid sing-song rant in which she called four groups “deaf, dumb, blind and gay.” She told photographers “I don’t want to play anything down, but I’m the least racist person going.” Some people commented on that story that it was more like a child’s song and was something her husband encouraged her to sing. Other people said there’s no excuse for what Amy did, even if it was in private. Maybe she needs a good PR person like Shia’s so she can apologize with feeling and explain how that happened. Unlike Shia, she didn’t just use one offensive name for a group, it was a string of them and included mean comments specifically about those groups.
Shia LaBeouf is shown below outside a fan screening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in NY on 5/21/08, thanks to WENN.




































































