So Shia LaBeouf : Plagiarist and A**hat

[kairparavel]

Stealing someone else's words and passing them off as his own is nothing new, for The Beef but this is just epic:

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/12/shia-labeouf-dan-clowes-comic/

Shia LaBeouf’s critically acclaimed 2012 short HowardCantour.com was available online today — until people familiar with indie comics noticed its remarkable resemblance to Justin M. Damiano, a 2007 comic by Ghost World creator Dan Clowes. The video, available on the short’s official website, suddenly became password protected shortly after bloggers started commenting on the similarities this afternoon.

After being called out on it - Patton Oswalt was ALL over him on Twitter, he apologizes (shittily) and apparently plagiarized that as well

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/12/labeouf-plagiarism-yahoo-answers/?cid=co15905684

http://www.avclub.com/article/shia-labeouf-plagiarizes-daniel-clowes-comic-for-h-106565?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=Default:1:Default

What an amazing specimen.

[Igziabeher]

1 down, Zack Braff to go.

[Sci-2]

1 down, Zack Braff to go.

What's Braff plagarized?

[Myrddin]

Wow. I know it's easy to have ideas resurface years later and you think they're your own (I had this happen...), but to lift the dialog and scene completely?

He either is a pig who thought he'd never get caught or has a photographic memory without the companion skill of recalling the source.

Actually, the fact that his apology seems to be plagiarized too suggests he does just parrot back things he has read or heard over the years. A good skill for an actor, not a writer/filmmaker.

[kairparavel]

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/nailbiter111/news/?a=91733

Shia LaBeouf's plagiarism is the gift that keeps on giving. While Daniel Clowes pursues legal action, new evidence has surfaced showing that Shia has plagiarized several other writers for his "original" comics, Stale N Mate and Let's F*cking Party.
Read more at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/nailbiter111/news/?a=91733#tOWaZPe5OtIweeMZ.99

[maarsen]

I guess for some people original thinking is really hard to do.

[Myshkin]

I see a lot of comments on teh interwebs about how this all might be a Joaquin Phoenix style hoax. No way. Plagiarism is a mortal sin in the creative world. You could commit cold-blooded murder and eventually be forgiven, hell Roman Polanski raped a 13 year old girl and he's still making movies, but you will never be forgiven for plagiarism.

[Sci-2]

I guess for some people original thinking is really hard to do.

Hey, Puff Daddy made it work.

But I think Myshkin has the right of it - LaBeouf screwed the pooch on his creative career.

[kairparavel]

I see a lot of comments on teh interwebs about how this all might be a Joaquin Phoenix style hoax. No way. Plagiarism is a mortal sin in the creative world. You could commit cold-blooded murder and eventually be forgiven, hell Roman Polanski raped a 13 year old girl and he's still making movies, but you will never be forgiven for plagiarism.

I wondered too if this was some hipster douchebag performance art but agree it's career suicide. Always, always credit where credit is due.

[maarsen]

Hey, Puff Daddy made it work.

But I think Myshkin has the right of it - LaBeouf screwed the pooch on his creative career.

Apparently, so did Bob Dylan.

[Sci-2]

Apparently, so did Bob Dylan.

Just to be clear, I meant succeeding despite borrowing from the creativity of others.

[maarsen]

Just to be clear, I meant succeeding despite borrowing from the creativity of others.

You were quite clear, and so am I. Look up what Joni Mitchell has to say about Bob Dylan.

[Myshkin]

I think there's a pretty huge difference between what Dylan and Puff Daddy have done and what The Beef did. Neither of them lifted an entire creative work and passed it off as their own (though Dylan has been accused of exactly that by someone named James Damiano).

[Clueless Northman]

I guess for some people original thinking is really hard to do.

Well, consider for a minute that the guy's working at Hollywood. The allegedly creative place where original thinking is the less present, and where only sequels, prequels, adaptations and remakes can be done.

[Francis Buck]

You know, I've been a defender of the Beef before, because I thought people kinda hated him just because it was trendy (like hating on Bieber), but this is just plain douche. And his excuses are total bullshit. He plagiarized that work, plain and simple.

[kairparavel]

As far as I can tell, he's plagiarized everything he's expressed in recent times.

When you're plagiarizing Tiger Woods' tweet to apologize for your apology which you ripped off from Yahoo Answers which was apologizing for ripping off a comic book author....

Yeah, this is going to be douchey hipster performance art

Asshat

[Myshkin]

As far as I can tell, he's plagiarized everything he's expressed in recent times.

When you're plagiarizing Tiger Woods' tweet to apologize for your apology which you ripped off from Yahoo Answers which was apologizing for ripping off a comic book author....

Yeah, this is going to be douchey hipster performance art

Asshat

Unless everyone he plagiarized was in on it it's still plagiarism. Even if they were all in on it it's still a bad move; even a whiff of plagiarism can kill a career.

[Sci-2]

Shia LaBeouf’s website ‘about’ page was also copied

......the past few days of Shia LaBeouf-related news weren’t puzzling enough, here’s more: Following the revelation that his short film HowardCantour.com was nearly wholly lifted without credit or permission from Daniel Clowes’ comic Justin M. Damiano, the subsequent discovery that his multiple apologies were copied from sources ranging from Yahoo! Answers to Kanye West, it appears the text of the “About” page of LaBeouf’s Campaign Book website was directly ripped from the description of Dan Nadel’s soon-to-close PictureBox — something noted by Nadel himself on The Comics Journal.

[Francis Buck]

That's...interesting.

Watch this all be some artsy-fartsy publicity stunt, like Joaquin Phoenix and "quitting acting to become a rapper" or whatever it was.

(I doubt it, but hey; the more absurd the celebrity story the better, as far as I'm concerned).

[Hutch]

I don't think he originally thought he would be caught. Now that he has I think he will try to spin it as "art". Hence the reason everything he's tweeted since this story broke are direct plagiarisms as well.