I’m still not sure what to make of the recent Shia LaBeouf hullabaloo on Twitter. I’m aware he blatantly copied Daniel Clowes, apologized with some more stolen goods, faced the backlash head on with the aid of a skywriter and his social skills, made friends with Lena Dunham and Patton Oswalt, and then finally decided to say f*ck it and returned to railing on Daniel Clowes.
LaBeouf’s next “project” is titled Daniel Boring, an obvious copy of Clowes’ David Boring, and it seems to be the straw that finally broke the camel’s back. LaBeouf received a cease and desist letter from the Clowes camp that he graciously shared on Twitter. It looks real. Smells real. Might be real. And all the public can really do is sit back and wait to see what the next chapter will be. From The AV Club:
The storyboard—which LaBeouf tauntingly photographed on top of head shots of both Oswalt and Seth Rogen, for whatever reason—was an obvious, scene-for-scene copy of Clowes’ David Boring, right down to Clowes’ own description of his work. This prompted Clowes’ lawyers to proclaim it “another direct rip-off,” and demand that LaBeouf leave the artist alone.
“Your client is seriously out of control,” the letter reads. “He must stop his improper and outlandish conduct.”
You can read the full letter below, but I feel that something is rotten in Denmark. I can’t believe that this incredible series of events is even close to real. LaBeouf hired a f*cking skywriter to apologize to the guy who is now threatening litigation! He’s talking out of his head, picking battles he can’t win because of the Internet and being some kind of supervillain douchebag supreme.
I just can’t buy that it is real until I see LaBeouf enter rehab, sincerely apologize and become the fresh faced boy being sent to his doom by Ben Affleck you see above. And if it is performance art, isn’t he just copying Joaquin Phoenix or Andy Kaufman?
For now it is the gift that keeps coming whether you want it or not. And it’s pretty entertaining no matter how you view it, be it performance or reality.
(Lead image via gettyimages / Other images via Shia LaBeouf )