News site of the year

Entertainment
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment
  3. Movies

Shia LaBeouf arrested at anti-Trump art show in New York

The actor and performance artist Shia LaBeouf was arrested early Thursday morning on misdemeanour assault and harassment charges while protesting President Donald Trump at a livestream art installation in New York City.

In videos online, LaBeouf expresses outrage and uses expletive-laden language to ask how the public can make it normal "to be a Nazi out here".

Up Next

Julie Bishop supports Trump's travel ban

null
Video duration
01:50

More Videos

null
Video duration
01:08

Shia LaBeouf arrested during anti-Trump ...
null
Video duration
01:50

Julie Bishop supports Trump's travel ban
null
Video duration
01:31

Perth set for wet weather
null
Video duration
00:32

Chilling last words
null
Video duration
06:02

Clique February 2017 challenge - Water
null
Video duration
06:39

Inside China's global strategy on ...
More videos

Shia LaBeouf arrested during anti-Trump art performance

The actor is arrested after an alleged assault at his public art installation outside Queens Museum in New York.

In one video, a small gathering of fellow protesters chants "He will not divide us" as LaBeouf speaks. A police officer approaches, and LaBeouf appears to get into a verbal altercation with him before the officer places him in handcuffs and escorts him out of the camera's view.

LaBeouf was arrested just after 12.30am Thursday and charged with misdemeanour assault and with harassment, according to Detective Adam Navarro of the New York City Police Department. He was issued a desk appearance ticket and instructed to come to court on April 4. He was not jailed.

Navarro said that police were called after LaBeouf got into an argument with another man at the installation, pulled off the man's scarf, and in the process scratched his face. The man did not need to be hospitalised, the detective said.

A video of the alleged incident sees LaBeouf posing for a photo with an attendee, who then utters "What's up, Hitler did nothing wrong." The actor, who is Jewish, then shoves the man.

Advertisement

The livestream is part of LaBeouf's latest art project, #HeWillNotDivideUs, a collaboration with artists Nastja Sade Ronkko and Luke Turner. On Inauguration Day, the actor placed a camera outside the Museum of the Moving Image, in Queens, and invited members of the public to repeat the words "he will not divide us" into the camera. The aim is to keep streaming images of people repeating the words, 24/7, throughout Trump's time in office.

The project has become a hotspot for neo-Nazis and far-right Trump supporters who've orchestrated attacks, pranks and counter-protests at the site, Buzzfeed reports.

Earlier this week, LaBeouf was filmed in another heated confrontation with a man who reportedly uttered pro-Nazi sentiments at the installation.

The hashtag #FreeShia was trending following the star's arrest overnight, as followers tweeted their support for the actor's actions. 

Representatives for LaBeouf did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Thursday morning.

The arrest is not LaBeouf's first dust-up with the law. In 2014, while at a Broadway performance of the musical Cabaret, he was arrested and later charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.

The actor first rose to prominence as a child performer on the Disney Channel television series Even Stevens, and in 2008 starred in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

More recently, he has drawn as much attention for his unusual art projects as for his acting.

In November 2015, LaBeouf arranged a three-day marathon of all of his movies at the Angelika Film Center in New York. In December last year, he presented #AndInTheEnd at the Sydney Opera House, where he asked visitors to deliver a message to himself and his collaborators beginning with the words "and In the end".

- New York Times, with Fairfax Media