Shia LaBeouf blamed gay fear for his arrest during a Mardi Gras bar brawl.
“Honestly, big gay people are scary to me,” the former child star boldly admitted in an interview with Andrew Callaghan’s Channel 5, posted on YouTube on Saturday.
“When I’m standing alone and there are three gay men next to me touching my feet, it scares me. I’m sorry. If that’s homophobic, then so am I. So am I.”
He clarified that his version of events “only happened once,” before insisting, “Well, that’s why I got arrested.”
“I was wrong for touching someone. Never. That concludes my statement on this whole matter,” he concluded, adding that he did not want to describe the situation as “groped and surrounded.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the 39-year-old actor clarified, “I’m okay with being gay, but please be gay over there. Don’t be gay on my lap.”
“So. I was drunk and it’s Mardi Gras. So everything I’m saying is nonsense,” he continued.
LaBeouf went on to detail his mental health issues, saying he feels he begins to react when his “masculinity” is “challenged.”
“My father was raped by his cousin, so he was always in my ear,” he said, noting that the problem is potentially long-standing.
“I’ve never had a problem with gay people. Never have. I remember paying for people’s sex reassignment surgeries when I was playing hooky on the internet. I’ve never had any animosity toward that,” LaBeouf reinforced.
The Holes star admitted his actions during the altercation were “bullish” but added that he is “not interested” in the idea of going back to rehab, despite reports that ex Mia Goth wants to return there. This is because they do not believe that they will find the “answer” to their problems in a rehabilitation facility.
“I don’t think I have a drinking problem. I think I have another problem and I’m going to deal with that,” he said. “I think I have a small man complex.”
“I think it has more to do with anger and ego than alcohol.”
LaBeouf was arrested on February 17 after allegedly getting into a scuffle with two men at a bar while celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and was charged with two counts of simple assault.
Footage of the incident showed the actor shouting gay slurs at the men and calling them “fuck you” before punching them. At one point, he was captured on video headbutting one of the men, possibly breaking his nose, according to a police report.
Hours after being released from prison, LaBeouf was right back to partying that night. The next day, he was seen going for a run before heading to church for Ash Wednesday services.
The actor appeared in court in the case on Thursday, where Judge Simone Levine ordered him to attend a rehabilitation facility, undergo a drug testing program and post $100,000 bail as conditions for his release from custody.
In the latest update, a new arrest warrant was issued for LaBeouf by New Orleans police on Friday in connection with the initial bar altercation.
