Shia LaBeouf Could Face Legal Action Due to Plagiarism

When you don't give proper credit to the original author, it's called plagiarism.

Shia LaBeouf posted his short film Howard Cantour.com this week on Monday, December 16, which is about the life of an anguished online film critic. However, this was also the story line for Daniel Clowes comic Justin M. Damiano in 2007.

The only difference between the short film and the comic is that the names were changed. LaBeouf took the short film offline after he was accused of plagiarism and immediately took to Twitter to apologize.

"Copying isn't particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else's idea to produce something new and different IS creative work. In my excitement and naivete as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process and neglected to follow proper accreditation, " he admitted.

"I'm embarrassed that I failed to credit @danielclowes for his original graphic novella Justin M. Damiano, which served as my inspiration. I was truly moved by his piece of work & I knew that it would make a poignant & relevant short. I apologize to all who assumed I wrote it. I deeply regret the manner in which these events have unfolded and want @danielclowes to know that I have a great respect for his work. I f---ed up."

Even though the short film was posted online on Monday, it had already circuited at festivals in 2012, one being the Cannes Film Festival. When the Transformers actor apologized on Twitter, he was called out on plagiarizing again. Apparently, he plagiarized the beginning of his apology from a Yahoo Answers user named Lili.

The 27 year-old actor has given multiple apologies, but Clowes has not accepted them and may be seeking legal action. Clowes' Fantographics publisher, Eric Reynolds, told Us Weekly that Clowes was exploring his legal options after finding out the short film was released online on Monday.

"…he has given interviews where he has had every opportunity to pay his respects to the source material, but instead he continues to position himself as the sole creator. So, no, a half a--ed insincere and plagiarized apology on Twitter is probably not enough and Dan is currently exploring his legal options."


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