Shia LaBeouf Says He's "Retiring From All Public Life" Now After Plagiarism Scandal

Maybe this had something to do with that little cease and desist letter?

Not Available Lead
Image via Complex Original
Not Available Lead

So, that's it: Shia LaBeouf is retiring "from all public life," and it is all our faults. According to a series of new (presumably not plagiarized) tweets, LaBeouf announced that "in light of recent attacks" against his "artistic integrity," he is choosing to bow out from the spotlight. It's worth noting that the so-called "attacks" were only prompted because he plagiarized Ghost World author Daniel Clowes, and then proceeded to plagiarize the apologies of famous people on his Twitter for, like, a month. So, it kind of doesn't seem like "artistic integrity" means much of anything to him.

In light of the recent attacks against my artistic integrity, I am retiring from all public life.
My love goes out to those who have supported me.

There's no specification what #stopcreating actually means, but it could have something to do with these tweets from a few days ago:

we used to sit in a circle around a campfire and tell stories and share them and change them and own them together because they were ours
now our stories are owned for profit we buy corporate property and call it our culture enriching others as we deplete ourselves

Like, does he want people to stop creating new art and work so that everyone will just have to plagiarize each other until the end of time? Is that what he's saying? That seems kind of impractical.

Then again, this could all also have something to do with the fact that Daniel Clowes' lawyers just sent him a cease and desist order, which he didn't fail to post in full on his Twitter.

Either way—it's not clear if LaBeouf will really be "retiring" from "public life" like he says (whatever that means), but it means this whole stolen apology saga is FINALLY over.

[via Independent.co.uk]

Latest in Pop Culture