NEW ORLEANS — Shia LaBeouf pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor battery for assaulting three men with homophobic slurs at a New Orleans bar on February 17 and was sentenced to two years’ probation, alcohol abuse rehabilitation, sensitivity training, and anger management classes. He will receive no jail time as part of the plea agreement.
Police arrested LaBeouf after he punched two men and head-butted a third at the R Bar in New Orleans’s Marigny neighborhood around 12:45 a.m. on February 17. Bar staff had asked him to leave after he became increasingly aggressive and directed homophobic slurs at the men, according to sworn police statements. Video of the encounter shows a shirtless LaBeouf shoving one person to the ground and striking another in the face, causing his nose to possibly dislocate, according to a police report.
Jeffrey Damnit, a local entertainer who performs in drag, said LaBeouf hit him multiple times, pushed him, and threatened his life while shouting homophobic slurs. “He just got nuts trying to start fights and telling me and others that he would beat us up,” Damnit said. Damnit recorded cellphone video of LaBeouf directing a homophobic slur at him outside the bar. He and others attempted to subdue LaBeouf and get him to leave, but he became more aggressive.
LaBeouf’s attorney, Sarah Chervinsky, described the incident as “nothing more than a minor bar tussle” and denied that her client’s actions were driven by bias, despite video evidence showing he directed anti-gay slurs at the victims. Chervinsky said LaBeouf went to court “wanting to take accountability for his part in what happened, and he has done so,” and added that he was “looking forward to focusing on family, work and new creative projects.”
In an interview published less than two weeks after his arrest, LaBeouf told Channel 5 that “big gay people are scary” to him given his “traditional Catholic” faith. He alleged that “three gay dudes [were] next to me, touching my leg” before the violence erupted, and added, “I [got] scared. I’m sorry – if that’s homophobic, then I’m that.”
Formal charges were filed by New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams’s office on May 21. Allegations of a hate crime have been dismissed. One of the victims, Nathan Thomas Reed, identifies as queer. LaBeouf, who bought a home in New Orleans in December, was briefly jailed after his arrest before posting a $105,000 bond and enrolling in substance abuse treatment.