Here's a Timeline of Everything Shia LaBeouf Plagiarized This Week

By Cassandra Rose ·

Credit: DreamWorks Pictures

It's been quite a week for Shia LaBeouf. He plagiarized his art, he plagiarized his apologies (on several occasions) and he even plagiarized our hearts.

Okay, maybe not that last part.

So to keep things clear and concise for you in this never-ending scandal, we've made a rundown of all the plagiarism committed in the last week.

Spoilers: he's been busy.

1. On Monday it broke that Shia had stolen the concept and dialogue from comic book author Daniel Clowes' 2007 graphic novella Justin M. Damiano to create his short film HowardCantour.com.

2. LaBeouf apologized, but it turned out that his comments had been stolen from a Yahoo Answers page about plagiarism in art.

https://twitter.com/thecampaignbook/statuses/412835090671357952

As one user wrote on Yahoo Answers, "Merely copying isn’t particularly creative work, though it’s useful as training and practice. Being inspired by someone else’s idea to produce something new and different IS creative work."

3. On Wednesday, Clowes did not accept Shia's apology and is even reportedly seeking legal action against the actor who he felt wasn't taking these allegations seriously.

4. Shia apologized again via Twitter, this time stealing his words from Tiger Woods, Kanye West and General Robert McNamara.

https://twitter.com/thecampaignbook/statuses/413320195902799873

The first stolen apology was uttered by Tiger Woods in a statement during his sex scandal and reads, "I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart."

https://twitter.com/thecampaignbook/statuses/413320842400264192

"We were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why," is from General Robert McNamara, who penned it in his memoir.

https://twitter.com/thecampaignbook/status/413320903620300800

And this is word for word the apology Kanye West tweeted to Taylor Swift, writing, "It starts with this... I'm sorry Taylor."

5. He also apologized again on Thursday, but since he's basically trolling us at this point those words were stolen from Obama "Hope" poster artist Shepard Fairey and Mark Zuckerberg.

https://twitter.com/thecampaignbook/status/413689407267684352

Or as Shepard admitted after mistakenly using the wrong photo for Obama's campaign poster, "I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone."

https://twitter.com/thecampaignbook/status/413689357732950016

"I want to thank all of you who have written in and created groups and protested. Even though I wish I hadn't made so many of you angry, I am glad we got to hear you," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook statement.

6. Daniel Nadel from the Comic's Journal also discovered that LaBeouf had ripped off his about page from his site PictureBox, which LaBeouf used in his own project the Campaign Book.

Nadel's about page reads:
Why is PictureBox? Because I love the things I love and I want to champion them. I tend toward outliers and I’m obsessed with the history of visual culture writ large and small. But look, ostensibly PictureBox is a publishing company. I publish around 10 books a year (graphic novels, prose, design, art, etc.) as well as assorted specialty items like DVDS, CDs, and prints. Each project comes from my own tastes and relationships, and are rooted in what I believe in.
And here's a screenshot for the description of the Campaign Book:

Credit: Image Capture

7. And thanks to the intrepid work of Buzzfeed, Shia's terrible comics have also been revealed to be ripped off from authors like Charles Bukowski (really dude?) and French writer Benoît Duteurtre.

For example, LaBeouf wrote in his self-published comic:

Credit: Image Capture

Whereas Bukowski's poem "assault" reads:
Lorca was shot down in the road but here in America the poets never anger anybody. the poets don’t gamble. their poetry has the smell of clinics. their poetry has the smell of clinics. where people die rather then live. here they don’t assassinate the poets they don’t even notice the poets.
There was also a lot of direct stealing going in from the novel The Little Girl and the Cigarette.

Credit: Image Capture

Whereas in his book, Duteutre writes:
Seemingly indifferent to the fate that awaited him, Désiré Johnson continued to look obstinate. In the antechamber of the execution room a silent exchange pitted the condemned man…
Also this (LaBeouf):
Government law said the condemned man Donal Thomas was acting entirely w/in his rights when he invoked Artical [sic] 47 of the Code of Application of Punishments, which authorized him to have one last smoke before execution.
And this (Duteutre):
According to Government law, the condemned man, Désiré Johnson, was acting entirely within his rights when he invoked Article 47 of the Code of Application of Punishments, which authorized him to have one last smoke before execution.
So there you have it, all the Shia LaBeouf plagiarism from this, the best week ever.

Geeze, we hope he has a good lawyer.

Credit: Giphy

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