You guys, did Shia LaBeouf just plagiarize his apology FOR PLAGIARIZING? Because it kind of seems like he did...but hey, judge for yourself. For starters, here's what LaBeouf is accused of plagiarizing, ICYMI: Yesterday, LaBeouf posted his 2012 short film Howard Cantour on online for the world to marvel at for free, and marvel they did—at his stupidity. It wasn't long before comic books fans noted a lot of specific similarities between LaBeouf's short film and iconic indie comics author Dan Clowes' 2007 comic Justin M. Damiano.
When Clowes was contacted by Buzzfeed about the film, this is what he had to say: "I saw that he took the script and even many of the visuals from a very personal story I did six or seven years ago and passed it off as his own work. I actually can’t imagine what was going through his mind." So, you know, lots of super damning evidence.
Today, LaBeouf owned up to the plagiarism with an apology meant to appease Clowes' fans, posted in a series of tweets on his Twitter:
None
Fine, but here's the issue—LaBeouf's apology might have been plagiarized as well. Of course, this could be a coincidence, so no pointing fingers yet, but it is worth noting that LaBeouf has plagiarized apologies before: In February of this year, LaBeouf made a public apology to Alec Baldwin—but he stole parts of it from an essay in Esquire that ran in 2009.
With this apology, LaBeouf is accused of plagiarizing a few sentences from, of all things, a Yahoo! Answers post by a user named Lili four years ago. Note, the following sentences from LaBeouf's apology: "Copying isn’t particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else’s idea to produce something new and different IS creative work."
Now, read Lili's post on Yahoo! Answers:
None
Ack, this doesn't look good. Your move, Shia.
[via Uproxx]
