A New Orleans judge has ordered actor Shia LaBeouf to enrol in drug and alcohol rehabilitation on Thursday after he was charged with two counts of battery over an alleged assault outside of a bar during Mardi Gras.
Orleans Parish Criminal Court Judge Simone Levine ordered the 39-year-old actor to submit to weekly drug tests, including one on the spot in the courthouse, and set a US$100,000 bond. LaBeouf agreed, and his lawyer said the test did not show illegal substances in his system.
The New Orleans Police Department previously said a staff member had attempted to remove LaBeouf from a business but said the actor hit one man several times with closed fists. They alleged the Transformers actor was causing a disturbance and becoming increasingly aggressive at a business on Royal Street early on Feb. 17.
Police said multiple people attempted to hold LaBeouf down but he was let up “in hopes that he would leave.” They alleged LaBeouf then resumed hitting the same man and then punched another person in the nose before he was held down until officers arrived.
Levine called LaBeouf’s behaviour a concern for “the safety of this larger community, especially relative to marginalized community that has gone through so much terror,” referring to a police report that claimed the Holes actor allegedly yelled homophobic slurs while hitting multiple people near the French Quarter earlier this month.
“This defendant does not take his alcohol addiction seriously,” Levine said. “This court does not believe he understands the level of seriousness when it comes to these allegations.”
The judge said that she was concerned whether LaBeouf “could handle his alcohol.”
“Frankly, being drunk on Mardi Gras is not a crime,” LaBeouf’s lawyer, Sarah Chervinsky, told the judge.
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LaBeouf posted bond and has not yet formally entered a plea to the charges. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 19.
Jeffrey Damnit, a local entertainer who is identified in the police report as Jeffrey Klein, previously told The Associated Press that LaBeouf repeatedly punched him and used homophobic slurs while threatening his life. Damnit said he believed LaBeouf had targeted him because he wore makeup and eyeliner.
“This guy wants me to be dead because I wear makeup,” Damnit said. “It’s a screwed-up thing.”
Levine said that when she originally released LaBeouf without bond hours after his arrest on Feb. 17, the allegations that the actor had used homophobic slurs had not yet been reflected in the official court record, The Guardian reports.
After LaBeouf was released from custody, he was seen in the French Quarter dancing in the streets on Mardi Gras.
LaBeouf was also ordered to stay away from the victims and the bars where the alleged altercation took place.
The judge also denied a request by LaBeouf to travel to Rome in March for “religious observations, including his father’s baptism.”
LaBeouf’s arrest came after he went on an extended weekend bar crawl during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, employees of various establishments told The Hollywood Reporter.
“He is terrorizing the city,” one bartender, who waited on LaBeouf, told the outlet.
On Feb. 15, LaBeouf posted a photo of himself on X wearing Mardi Gras beads.
This isn’t LaBeouf’s first run-in with police — he was arrested in July 2017 while filming The Peanut Butter Falcon. LaBeouf was taken into police custody after resisting arrest and going on a racist, profanity-filled rant.
Footage of the incident was released online, showing him calling police officers “b-tch” and “wh-re.” He said one of the officers “especially” was going to hell, LaBeouf said, “because he’s a Black man.”
LaBeouf went on to say that he’s a “tax-paying American” and “I have rights.” LaBeouf also said, “I’m an American. You’ve got me in my hotel, arresting me in my hotel, for doing what, sir? You really got these cuffs on me heavy, bro.”
He was charged with public drunkenness (which was later dropped) and disorderly conduct. He issued an apology after the footage of the incident was released, saying, “I am deeply ashamed of my behaviour and make no excuses for it.”
In October 2017, the actor pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of obstruction and was placed on a year’s probation.
In March 2018, LaBeouf opened up about learning from his mistakes following his arrest in Savannah, Ga.
“What went on in Georgia was mortifying,” LaBeouf said in a cover story for Esquire’s April 2018 issue. “White privilege and desperation and disaster … It came from a place of self-centred delusion … It was me trying to absolve myself of guilt for getting arrested.
“I f–ked up.”
“I’m a buffoon,” LaBeouf told the publication. “My public outbursts are failures. They’re not strategic. They’re a struggling motherf–ker showing his a– in front of the world.”
In 2020, British singer FKA Twigs filed a lawsuit against LaBeouf, accusing him of “relentless abuse,” including assault, sexual battery and infliction of emotional distress.
At the time of the suit, LaBeouf said he was “not in any position to tell anyone how my behaviour made them feel.”
“I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say,” he said in a statement.
— With files from The Associated Press
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