NEED TO KNOW
- Jeffrey “Damnit” Klein claims Shia LaBeouf called him a homophobic slur multiple times before and after a brawl at R Bar in New Orleans’ Faubourg Marigny neighborhood on Mardi Gras morning.
- LaBeouf was arrested on two counts of simple battery but was released the same day, later spotted dancing on Bourbon Street with his release paperwork in his mouth.
- Klein is calling for the charges to be upgraded to a hate crime, while the New Orleans Police Department has confirmed the case remains under investigation.
Shia LaBeouf‘s Mardi Gras arrest just got significantly more complicated. The actor, who was booked on two counts of simple battery in the early hours of Tuesday morning following an alleged brawl at R Bar in New Orleans’ Faubourg Marigny neighborhood, is now being accused of using homophobic slurs throughout the night — and at least one of the men involved is calling the whole thing a hate crime.
Jeffrey “Damnit” Klein — born Jeffrey Klein — says his first run-in with LaBeouf wasn’t even at midnight. “He smashed into me, knocking me into some boxes,” Klein explained of an encounter that began around 5 p.m. Monday. “Then he turned around screaming, ‘Don’t you fucking push me. I’ll kill you.’ I hadn’t touched him.” Things only got uglier from there.
Klein says he tried to de-escalate, but LaBeouf allegedly wasn’t interested in cooling down. “He said he’d ‘kick my ass’ and called me a faggot,” Klein said. “I told him I wasn’t going to fight him. I wasn’t giving him that.” According to Klein, the actor cycled in and out of the bar throughout the evening, each return more volatile than the last.
By midnight, any pretense of a routine bar dispute had evaporated. “He was screaming at a bartender and had to be escorted outside,” Klein recalled. “Once outside, he started pacing in the street, yelling, ‘You’re all a bunch of fucking faggots.’” Klein alleges LaBeouf then punched a second bartender in the face, breaking his nose…