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.
Video from outside the bar — which spread quickly across social media — showed LaBeouf being physically restrained while continuing to shout. For Klein, the slurs are what separate this from a standard Bourbon Street blowup. “He kept trying to get up and fight people,” he said. “He wouldn’t stop screaming slurs. That’s why I say this wasn’t just a bar fight. This was about hate.”
LaBeouf was transported from the scene, treated, and then arrested. By early afternoon Tuesday, he was released on his own recognizance — a timeline that left Klein floored. “In decades of coming to Mardi Gras, I’ve always understood that if you go to jail during Mardi Gras, you’re not getting out until after Ash Wednesday,” he said. Videos quickly circulated of LaBeouf on Bourbon Street, apparently dancing, his jail release paperwork dangling from his mouth.
Klein says that quick release sends exactly the wrong signal. “It sends a terrible message” about accountability during one of the city’s busiest weeks, he said. He’s also worried about what LaBeouf’s apparent industry connections could mean for his own livelihood. “I would not feel safe running into him on a set,” Klein said. “If he could make a call and get out of jail before anybody else, what’s stopping him from making a call about my career?”
Klein said he wants the charges upgraded, calling the incident a hate crime: “I mean, it’s a hate crime, right? You’re beating people up because somewhere in your mind their sexuality goes against what you think should get to live.” His attorney noted that the call ultimately belongs to prosecutors. “Ultimately, it’s up to the district attorney to determine if it in fact crosses the certain lines you have to cross to make it a hate crime. If it does, it’s a lot bigger offense with a lot bigger penalties,” attorney Raspanti said.
Notably, allegations that LaBeouf spewed homophobic slurs at his alleged battery victims were not mentioned in initial charging paperwork, and the New Orleans Police Department confirmed Wednesday the case remains under investigation. LaBeouf, who has publicly claimed sobriety in recent years and attributed past abusive behavior to personal struggles, has not commented publicly on the incident. For Klein, the silence is beside the point. “Anytime somebody insists on calling me a ‘faggot’ and threatening to hurt me because of it — that’s not something you ever get used to,” he said. “I’ve worked in bars for years. I’ve seen fights. But when someone is screaming that word over and over while trying to attack people, that’s different.”
