It’s not too late, Will Smith.
Yes, Smith’s career hit a brick wall when he slapped Chris Rock in front of a global audience on Oscar night.
Smith has been in virtual hiding ever since, and for good reason. America is a forgiving nation, though, especially when it comes to our brightest stars.
They can fall, and fall hard, and chances are we’ll be there to pick them up again. That’s assuming they show genuine contrition or have the talent to back up their second acts.
The following stars came roaring back against sizable odds. Some, though, may require a secondary comeback tale.
<h3>Matthew McConaughey</h3>
The man known for his slacker, “alright, alright alright” catch phrase found his career faltering in his late 30s. The star reduced his talents by laboring in one milquetoast rom-com after another.
“Fool’s Gold.” “Failure to Launch.” “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.” And, most regrettably, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”
He became known for losing his shirt and gaining the ladies by the third act, but said act was growing stale.
Movies like 2011’s “Killer Joe” and the following year’s “Mud” showcased a darker side of the smilin’ Texan, a prelude to his breakout performance in “Dallas Buyers Club.” McConaughey committed to the role, shedding serious weight to play a dying man battling Big Pharma and the F.D.A.
He earned a Best Actor Oscar for his troubles, and no one looked at him the same way again. He may still lose his shirt now and then, but audiences take McConaughey very seriously no matter the role.
<h3>Shia LaBeouf</h3>
Child stars often go astray. It’s a sad state of affairs, but we’ve seen it happen too many times to ignore. For a while, it seemed as if LaBeouf, now 36, would be another case in point.
The young star found steady gigs with Disney’s “Even Stevens” and features like “Holes” and “Constantine.”
He kept on working, landing the lead in the “Transformers” mega franchise as a sign of Hollywood’s trust in his talents. His innate curiosity led him to more challenging work, witness performances in “Bobby” and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.”
Even when he flamed out as Indiana Jones’ successor in the franchise’s fourth film his future seemed bright. And then LaBeouf got hit with disturbing allegations from a former lover, actress and singer FKA Twigs in 2021. She alleged <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/shia-labeouf-abuse-allegations-apology-1235352434/">serial cruelty from the actor</a>, who has spoken openly about his hardscrabble upbringing.
Hollywood’s MeToo movement appeared ready to swallow him whole. Except acclaimed filmmaker Abel Ferrara cast him in “Padre Pio,” and LaBeouf found faith along the way. He also owned up to his personal mistakes, vowing to become a better person in the process.
Now, he’s set to co-star in Francis Ford Coppola’s comeback film, “Megalopolis,” and there’s little outrage heading the star’s way over it.
<h3>Michael Keaton</h3>
Two words. “I’m Batman.” Suddenly, Keaton went from Mr. Mom to atop the A-list in 1989. Except he slowly descended from that rarified perch. 
Yes, the obligatory “Batman Returns” sequel made money, but Keaton’s subsequent movie choices left audiences cold. “Jack Frost.” “Speechless.” “Multiplicity.” “First Daughter.”
Keaton didn’t go away, exactly, but he hardly commanded our attention or figured into the annual awards season race.
The 2014 drama “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”) ended the Pittsburgh native’s slump. He earned an Academy Award nomination to go along with the film’s Best Picture trophy.
His next meaty role came via “Spotlight,” which also walked away with a Best Picture award on Oscar night 2015.
We knew Keaton had come full circle when he snagged a villainous role in the “Spider-Man” franchise as the Vulture. Now, he bounces from respectable work (“The Founder,” “Dopesick”) to more superheroics (the upcoming “Flash” as Batman, again).
<h3>Britney Spears</h3>
Oops, she did it again, replicating the pop princess formula and shooting straight to stardom. Spears had it all, or at least all pop music demanded – a music video-friendly visage, a knack for irresistible hooks and a voice chipper enough to bully past the competition.
She racked up industry victories even if her attempt at movie stardom fell flat in 2002 with “Crossroads.”
And then it all came crashing down. She melted down in public, fought with her family behind the scenes and eventually got put under a conservatorship, ripping her career out from under her.
And then, the “Free Britney” movement was born, and by November of 2021 a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/12/1054860726/britney-spears-conservatorship-ended">judge rescinded her father’s conservatorship.</a>
Time away from the spotlight may have helped her mental state. In recent months she’s begun reclaiming her old life, and her fans were more than happy to renew their bond with her. 
She recently <a href="https://pagesix.com/2022/09/06/britney-spears-elton-johns-hold-me-closer-on-billboard-top-10/">raced up the pop charts</a>, alongside the legendary Elton John, with “Hold Me Closer.” The duet gave her a hit for the <a href="https://variety.com/2022/music/news/britney-spears-top-10-elton-john-hold-me-closer-1235360241/">first time in nearly a decade</a>, but this comeback story is far from complete.
Spears’ mental health challenges are well known, and she released a cryptic message around the time of the single’s release saying <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/13/britney-spears-never-perform-again-conservatorship-trauma">she may never perform again</a>.
<h3>M. Night Shyamalan</h3>
They called him “the next Spielberg,” and for a while the phrase made sense. Shyamalan’s 1999 smash “The Sixth Sense” took the culture by storm, and his follow-up films (“Unbreakable,” “Signs”) proved his singular voice mattered.
His 2004 hit “The Village” suggested his trick endings were growing stale, and his follow-up, “The Lady in the Water” proved disastrous. He even mocked famous film critics via <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/lady-in-the-water-2006">Bob Balaban’s irksome character</a>, showcasing a thin skin for the young auteur.
Matters got worse from there, with clunkers like “After Earth,” “The Happening” and “The Last Airbender” proving his creative tank was empty.
Or was it?
His 2016 return to form, “Split,” suggested Shyamalan had a rich second act awaiting him, and us. The film’s sneaky ties to “Unbreakable” caught everyone by surprise, and suddenly an “M. Night Shyamalan project” wasn’t snicker-worthy anymore.
Sadly, his third film in the “Unbreakable” saga, “Glass,” proved ordinary, and his most recent directorial effort, “Old,” proved great trailers can yield lousy movies.
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News&#8217; Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en">@HollywoodInToto</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

86th Annual Academy Awards – Show

Hollywood’s Crazy Comeback Stories

Britney Spears

Matthew McConaughey

Readers Pass

Shia LaBeouf

Actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/shia-labeouf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shia LaBeouf</a> is refusing to re-engage with director and actress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/olivia-wilde" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivia Wilde</a> despite a second round of accusations from Wilde that she had to fire LaBeouf to keep the set of &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/new-olivia-wilde-movie-villain-inspired-by-jordan-peterson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Don&#8217;t Worry Darling</a>&#8221; safe.
Representation for LaBeouf last month released an email he sent to Wilde asking the director to tell the truth about his exit from her film, specifically that he quit over a lack of rehearsal time and she did not fire him like Wilde has publicly stated. He also released text messages and a video reportedly dated August 19, 2020 of Wilde telling LaBeouf that she is not ready to &#8220;give up&#8221; on having the actor in her movie and seemingly pleading with him to come back and work out an issue with actress Florence Pugh.
&#8220;It is what it is — every blessing to her and her film,&#8221; LaBeouf <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/shia-labeouf-responds-to-olivia-wilde-dont-worry-darling-claims-1235214049/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, reacting to Wilde again claiming that she fired the actor.
Wilde this week said again she had to fire LaBeouf from &#8220;Don&#8217;t Worry, Darling&#8221; because the actor&#8217;s process was “not conducive to the ethos” and she didn&#8217;t want “a combative energy&#8221; on set.
“This issue is so much more nuanced than can be explained in private texts released out of context,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/09/cover-story-olivia-wilde-dont-worry-darling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Vanity Fair. &#8220;All I’ll say is he was replaced, and there was no going forward with him. I wish him the best in his recovery.”
“I say this as someone who is such an admirer of his work. His process was not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions,&#8221; Wilde <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/olivia-wilde-denies-shia-labeouf-quit-dont-worry-darling-1235364535/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> of LaBeouf last month. &#8220;He has a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is conducive to the best performances. I believe that creating a safe, trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their best work. Ultimately, my responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them. That was my job.&#8221;
However, in a video LaBeouf&#8217;s reps suggest contradicts Wilde&#8217;s accusations, the director appeared to ask LaBeouf to make amends with Pugh and come back to the film.
“I feel like I’m not ready to give up on this yet, and I, too, am heartbroken and I want to figure this out,” Wilde <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/olivia-wilde-video-shia-labeouf-dont-worry-darling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> in the video. “You know, I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo, and I want to know if you’re open to giving this a shot with me, with us. If she really commits, if she really puts her mind and heart into it at this point and if you guys can make peace — and I respect your point of view, I respect hers — but if you guys can do it, what do you think? Is there hope? Will you let me know?”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
here is the video of olivia telling shia she wants to work it out and that if “miss flo” could “commit” more than it could happen.
please ignore that hashtag on the video I didn’t put it there. <a href="https://t.co/vAQPBqPRYE">pic.twitter.com/vAQPBqPRYE</a>
&mdash; sophia (@hellopugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/hellopugh/status/1563211398582112256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Further, in an email LaBeouf sent to Wilde, the actor asserted, “You and I both know the reasons for my exit. I quit your film because your actors and I couldn’t find time to rehearse.”
&#8220;If lies are repeated enough in the public they become truth,&#8221; the &#8220;Padre Pio&#8221; actor wrote. &#8220;And so, it makes it that much harder for me to crawl out of the hole I have dug with my behaviors, to be able to provide for my family.&#8221;
&#8220;Firing me never took place, Olivia,&#8221; LaBeouf stated. &#8220;And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth. So I am humbly asking, as a person with an eye toward making things right, that you correct the narrative as best you can. I hope none of this negatively effects you, and that your film is successful in all the ways you want it to be.&#8221;
You can read LaBeouf&#8217;s full email, which was first <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/shia-labeouf-denies-fired-olivia-wilde-dont-worry-darling-1235350529/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> at Variety, below:
<blockquote>
Olivia,
I hope this finds you inspired, purposeful, fulfilled &amp; well. I pray every night that you &amp; your family have health, happiness, &amp; everything God would give me. No joke, every night before I sleep.
I have a little girl, Isabel; she is five months old and just beginning to develop the last half of her laugh; it’s AMAZING. Mia, my wife &amp; I have found each other again &amp; are journeying toward a healthy family with love and mutual respect.
I have embarked on a journey that feels redemptive &amp; righteous (dirty word but fitting). I write to you now with 627 days of sobriety and a moral compass that never existed before my great humbling that was the last year and a quarter of my life. I reached out to you a few months ago to make amends; &amp; I still pray one day, you can find space in your heart to forgive me for the failed collaboration we shared.
What inspired this email today is your latest Variety story. I am greatly honored by your words on my work; thank you, that felt good to read. I am a little confused about the narrative that I was fired, however. You and I both know the reasons for my exit. I quit your film because your actors &amp; I couldn’t find time to rehearse. I have included as a reminder the screenshots of our text exchange on that day, and my text to Tobey.
I know that you are beginning your press run for DWD and that the news of my firing is attractive clickbait, as I am still persona-non-grata and may remain as such for the rest of my life. But, speaking of my daughter, I often think about the news articles she will read when she is literate. And though I owe, and will owe for the rest of my life, I only owe for my actions.
My failings with Twigs are fundamental and real, but they are not the narrative that has been presented. There is a time and a place to deal with such things, and I am trying to navigate a nuanced situation with respect for her and the truth, hence my silence. But this situation with your film and my “firing” will never have a court date with which to deal with the facts. If lies are repeated enough in the public they become truth. And so, it makes it that much harder for me to crawl out of the hole I have dug with my behaviors, to be able to provide for my family.
Firing me never took place, Olivia. And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth. So I am humbly asking, as a person with an eye toward making things right, that you correct the narrative as best you can. I hope none of this negatively effects you, and that your film is successful in all the ways you want it to be.
Every Blessing To You,
Shia
</blockquote>
Related:<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/you-dont-really-know-what-it-is-to-be-a-man-actor-shia-labeouf-discusses-cultural-absence-of-masculinity"> ‘You Don’t Really Know What It Is To Be A Man’: Actor Shia LaBeouf Discusses Cultural Absence Of Masculinity</a>

Shia LaBeouf, Olivia Wilde

‘Every Blessing To Her And Her Film’: Shia LaBeouf Reacts After Olivia Wilde Doubles Downs On Claims Against Actor

Shia LaBeouf Rises Above After Olivia Wilde Doubles Downs On Claims Against The Actor

Olivia Wilde

It doesn’t take much to become a feminist hero.
Take, for example, Olivia Wilde. She’s currently being feted as one of the most talented people in Hollywood, despite the fact that her first film, Booksmart, was a box office dud, and her current effort, Don’t Worry Darling, is currently charting in at 39 percent on RottenTomatoes, despite the presence of two of the industry’s biggest stars, Harry Styles and Florence Pugh. Wilde herself began as a rather untalented actress – remember her woodenly stammering out lines on House? – but now she’s become something bigger: an Important Person.
We know she’s important because she talks about the sexism she experiences routinely. In 2014, she talked about <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/olivia-wilde-talks-sexism-in-h">how difficult it was to get stories about women made.</a>
That must have come as a shock to literally every person who has ever seen more than one film or television show. The same year she complained about how hard it was to get films about women made, Alfonso Cuaron won an Oscar for directing Gravity, about a female astronaut.
But, you see, because Wilde is an Important Feminist Voice – and we know this because she keeps telling us, over and over again – this means she doesn’t have to act like a decent human being. As it turns out, Don’t Worry Darling is an off-screen disaster as well as an on-screen disappointment (it currently pulls a 39% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes). The disaster began with Wilde lying about the former star of the movie, Shia Labeouf. She said in an interview:
“He has a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is conducive to the best performances. I believe that creating a safe, trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their best work. Ultimately, my responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them. That was my job.”
She then dumped on him personally, claiming that she fired him because of allegations from his former girlfriend about emotional abuse, adding, “Particularly with a movie like this, I knew that I was going to be asking Florence to be in very vulnerable situations, and my priority was making her feel safe and making her feel supported.”
More feminist heroing! Except it wasn’t true: Labeouf released emails and texts showing he left the production because he didn’t have enough time to rehearse with the rest of the cast. Labeouf said, “Firing me never took place, Olivia. And while I fully understand the attractiveness of pushing that story because of the current social landscape, the social currency that brings. It is not the truth.”
The only true thing Wilde said, apparently, was that she was interested in making a safe, trusting environment on set. But not for Florence Pugh. For Harry Styles. She reportedly began making time with the star of her film pretty quickly after reaching the set. Of course, she was in a long-term relationship with Jason Sudeikis at the time; the couple had two children. In April 2022, <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/04/olivia-wilde-cinemacon-jason-sudeikis-legal-documents-ted-lasso-1235011446/">Sudeikis had her served with papers</a> while she was onstage doing press for her new film. 
All of this made Pugh rather upset, apparently. She reportedly was angry that Wilde had hooked up with Styles while Wilde was still with Sudeikis – and she was just as angry that Wilde and Styles were making out between takes. Sounds like true feminism heroism!
And herein lies the point: all it takes to be a feminist hero is to parrot a bunch of Left-wing talking points about how women are victims. You don’t actually have to help women or be a good person or anything like that.
Take, as case study #2, Hillary Clinton. She’s back at it with a new series on Apple TV called Gutsy. From the trailer, it appears that the Hillary-produced, Hillary-starring docuseries is about Hillary’s heroism. Promoting her new film, she told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell that her gutsiest decision was sticking with Bill Clinton:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Hillary Clinton discusses election and marriage" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pH0b12TAzk0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Was that even gutsier than allegedly threatening Juannita Broaddrick, who says Bill Clinton raped her? Here’s Broaddrick describing the gutsy feminist heroine:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Presidential Debate - Juanita Broaddrick says Hillary Clinton threatened her - Donald Trump" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/84QJ4zP8KB0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
But again, Hillary says she’s a victim of the patriarchy, so we must take her at her word.
Or take Meghan Markle, a C-list actress who became a princess by marrying into the British Royal Family – and who now says that she’s a victim of racism and sexism. She accused unnamed members of the Royal Family of bigotry, saying that they asked her about the prospective skin color of her child; she blamed the Royal Family for her decision to take Prince Harry to the United States and re-enter the entertainment industry. She’s a feminist hero, too, even though she’s apparently a rather wretched person. She recently likened herself to Nelson Mandela by proxy. Here’s the story she told The Cut:
“She recalls a moment from the 2019 London premiere of the live-action version of The Lion King. “I just had Archie. It was such a cruel chapter. I was scared to go out.” A cast member from South Africa pulled her aside. “He looked at me, and he’s just like light. He said, ‘I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison.’ ”
Sure, she’s rather terrible. But she’s certainly a feminist! Here she was in 2019:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Meghan Markle: Boys Should Be Feminists Too | NBC News" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xcVdaNH0wgc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The same holds true for our vaunted male feminists, too. Being a male feminist is an incredible way of hiding your own sexism and evil, as it turns out. Harvey Weinstein was an avid feminist – joining the Women’s March, talking up Gloria Steinem, and all the rest. That didn’t change the fact that he was a terrible sexual predator.
No one’s politics should buy them out of simple decency. But as long as you’re on the Left, you can get away with it for a pretty damned long time.

Ben Shapiro 4 (1)

SHAPIRO: It Doesn’t Take Much To Become A Feminist Hero. Just Ask Olivia Wilde.

Ben Shapiro

Harry Styles

Hillary Clinton

Those who have been to a Catholic mass in the extraordinary form usually have a decided love or distaste for the Latin Mass. Incense swirls around the altar, where red and white clad altar boys kneel, heads bowed in reverence, and the priest intones the mass in Latin facing an ornate gold tabernacle.
Latin Mass parishes are usually bursting with large families. Chapel-veil wearing mothers run in and out to keep their little ones quiet. Children quietly fold their hands and follow their siblings up to the altar rail at communion time. And the choir fills the church with beautiful music evocative of many centuries past.
And so it was an event that <a href="https://twitter.com/RorateCaeli/status/1416000622843858953?s=20&amp;t=qYbtBzRyzkEqLrhk-0x4qg">pierced</a> the homes of traditionally devout Catholic families all over the world when the Vatican <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2021/07/16/pope-francis-restricts-latin-mass/">restricted</a> the celebration of the Latin Mass in parish churches in “the most stinging rebuke by a Pope against his predecessor in living memory.”
In a 2007 ruling, former Pope Benedict XVI <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2021/07/16/pope-francis-restricts-latin-mass/">had encouraged</a> priests to offer the Latin mass if their parishioners requested it, allowing parishioners to go around the priest to the bishop or even the Vatican if their request was denied. Before Benedict&#8217;s ruling, Latin Mass had been banned from parishes normal schedules and had to be requested of the bishop.
<div id="attachment_431909" style="width: 660px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-431909" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-431909 " src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-01-at-11.44.23-AM-1024x538.png" alt="" width="650" height="342" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-01-at-11.44.23-AM-1024x538.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-01-at-11.44.23-AM-300x158.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-01-at-11.44.23-AM-768x404.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-01-at-11.44.23-AM-1536x808.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-01-at-11.44.23-AM-2048x1077.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px" />Screenshot of Shia LaBoeuf in Padre Pio trailer. YouTube.</div>
Pope Francis said that his restrictions were intended to unite the church, insisting that the Latin Mass had become a rejection of Vatican II and rallied together those Catholics who favored the church before the council&#8217;s modern reformations. He claimed that allowing the Latin Mass so frequently would “injure the Church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division,” and his defenders <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/traditional-latin-mass-advocates-prove-pope-francis-was-right">agreed</a> that the Latin Mass “led to a distorted ecclesiology.”
But traditional Catholics strongly disagreed. Writer George Weigel, who prefers the “Norvus Ordo” or English form of the Mass, wrote that Pope Francis&#8217;s <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/20210716-motu-proprio-traditionis-custodes.html">encyclical on the Latin mass</a> was “theologically incoherent, pastorally divisive, unnecessary, cruel — and a sorry example of the liberal bullying that has become all too familiar in Rome recently.”
“The lack of mercy shown here toward traditional Catholics, Benedict XVI, and the young laity and clergy drawn to the Latin Mass is stunning,” warned EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo. “This will create the division that Francis claims to cure through this ill advised and destructive new law.”
Author Michael Brendan Dougherty <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/opinion/pope-francis-latin-mass.html?referringSource=articleShare">accused</a> Pope Francis of “tearing the Catholic Church apart.”
“For Catholics, how we pray shapes what we believe,” wrote Dougherty. “The old ritual physically aims us toward an altar and tabernacle. In that way it points us to the cross and to heaven as the ultimate horizon of man’s existence. By doing so, it shows that God graciously loves us and redeems us despite our sins.”
Bishops quickly informed dioceses which churches could or could not hold Latin Masses. Some are not allowed to advertise their Latin Masses or hold them in the main church. Priests <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2021/08/74503">have been disciplined</a> for disobeying.
The news spread like wildfire within Catholic circles but was met with relative indifference without. What could the secular world care for a lengthy, incense filled Catholic Mass celebrated in Latin?
And then actor Shia LaBeouf revealed that he had converted to Christianity, becoming a member of the Roman Catholic Church, while he was shooting the movie “Padre Pio.”
Not only that: he shared that the discarded Latin Mass played a major role in his conversion.
<h3>&#8216;Latin Mass Affects Me Deeply&#8217;</h3>
LaBeouf plays Padre Pio in his upcoming film, a humble friar born in southern Italy in 1887, beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1999 and then canonized in 2002. The saint is known for his concise commentary on the importance of prayer and the Mass in modern secular society.
“Today’s society does not pray,” he famously <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/blog/50-wise-and-wonderful-insights-from-padre-pio">said</a>. “That is why it is falling apart.”
Padre Pio bore the stigmata on his body — the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, who was brutally beaten, whipped, and ultimately nailed to a wooden cross until he died, according to biblical accounts, because he claimed to be the son of God.
No conclusive scientific explanation has been given for the stigmata, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/shia-labeouf-converts-catholicism-studying-padre-pio-movie">reports</a>, though it has been subjected to intense scrutiny by members of the medical community.
LaBeouf shared with Bishop Robert Barron that he lived in a monastery of Franciscan Capuchin friars and studied religious works of literature in order to better understand the saint. The actor was fighting thoughts of suicide as he began the project, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/12/shia-labeoufs-legal-team-denies-abuse-claims-by-ex-girlfriend-fka-twigs?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=facebook">dodging scandals</a>, and reportedly at one of the darkest points in his life.
“I had a gun on the table. I was outta here,” LaBeouf told the bishop. “I didn&#8217;t want to be alive anymore when all this happened. Shame like I had never experienced before — the kind of shame that you forget how to breathe.”
WATCH: 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Bishop Barron Presents | Shia LaBeouf - Padre Pio and the Friars" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hjxKG4mR3U4?start=3027&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“I know now that God was using my ego to draw me to Him,” the actor said. “Drawing me away from worldly desires. It was all happening simultaneously. But there would have been no impetus for me to get in my car, drive up [to the monastery] if I didn&#8217;t think, &#8216;Oh, I&#8217;m gonna save my career.&#8217;”
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LaBeouf said he encountered people who had sinned beyond his wildest imagination but were taking refuge in Christ. That gave him hope, he said, and made him feel like he, too, had permission to pursue piety.
And for his role, as he portrayed the famed priest, LaBeouf acted out the celebration of the Latin Mass.
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“While we were practicing Latin Mass, I was having genuine emotional experiences, and aside from the fact that as a Neapolitan speaker, [Pio&#8217;s] accent wouldn&#8217;t have matched Italian anyway, but it felt like that would have taken me out of this thing that felt very personal,” LaBeouf shared.
“Latin Mass affects me deeply, deeply,” the actor said.
<div id="attachment_431873" style="width: 668px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-431873" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-431873 " src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/GettyImages-873391818-877x576.jpg" alt="" width="658" height="432" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-873391818-877x576.jpg 877w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-873391818-300x197.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-873391818-768x504.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-873391818-1536x1008.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-873391818-2048x1345.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 658px) 100vw, 658px" />Padre Pio during the mass at the Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina 1966. (Photo by Archivio Cicconi/Getty Images)</div>
He echoed the frustrations of many traditional Catholics in describing modern celebrations of the Catholic Mass, which, since Vatican II, has sought to better include the congregation and to make the biblical texts and liturgical prayers more palatable to the public.
“It&#8217;s almost as though the church is trying to&#8230;activate the audience without putting the agency on the priest,” the actor said, adding, “Old Latin Mass put all the agency on the priest to be fully activated and that at that activation of the priest was supposed to activate the audience, the laity.”
<div class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" aria-label="11 minutes, 37 seconds and the back and forth comes from whereas old latin mass put all the agency on the priest to be">
LaBeouf explained that silence and reverence of the Latin mass strongly resonated with him, drawing him closer to the mass rather than pushing him away.
“It feels like they&#8217;re not selling me a car,” he said of the extraordinary form, describing how brightly lit modern Catholic Masses with “guitars and stuff” often feel like they are “trying to sell me on an idea.”
“I always had a belief,” LaBeouf shared, “but never had a connection. Latin Mass gave me something where I felt connected,  which took me out of belief into connection.”
“As a person who&#8217;s involved in the arts, to deny some of the senses, it heightens some of the others, so when you put me in this rationalistic, logical, word, word, word, plot, plot, plot, it takes me out of the feeling realm,” he continued. “Whereas, Latin Mass puts me squarely in the feeling realm because I can&#8217;t argue the word because I don&#8217;t know what the word means, so I&#8217;m just left with this feeling that feels sacred and connected.”
<div role="button" aria-label="15 minutes, 48 seconds and and i do i mean as a person who's involved in the arts to deny some of the">
<div id="attachment_431874" style="width: 433px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-431874" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-431874 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/GettyImages-3166551-423x576.jpg" alt="" width="423" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-3166551-423x576.jpg 423w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-3166551-220x300.jpg 220w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-3166551-768x1046.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-3166551-1128x1536.jpg 1128w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-3166551-1504x2048.jpg 1504w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/09/GettyImages-3166551-scaled.jpg 1880w" sizes="(max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px" />Mystic and Stigmatic, Capuchin friar Padre Pio (Francesco Forgione) (1887 &#8211; 1968) wearing black mittens to cover the stigmata on his hands. He bears on his body the five marks of the crucifixion of Christ, on hands, feet and side. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)</div>
The actor said that he is “quite close” with Catholic actor and director Mel Gibson, who also appreciates the Latin Mass. When LaBeouf didn&#8217;t know how to find Latin Masses, he said that Gibson helped him.
<div role="button" aria-label="17 minutes, 3 seconds genius is we never threw anything out that we have kind of this all-encompassing thing">
<div class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" aria-label="1 hour, 11 minutes, 35 seconds uh because he's very into that traditionalist thing um and uh">
“He&#8217;s really into that traditionalist thing,” LaBeouf said. And at these Latin Masses he was attending, people began figuring out that LaBeouf was playing Padre Pio.
“They start coming up to you and and tugging at your shirt sleeve and saying, &#8216;Don&#8217;t get it wrong. He&#8217;s the only one we have,” the actor explained. “You ship out with so much pressure that then you&#8217;re in front of the Mass, you&#8217;ve just gone through six, seven months of the shirt tugging, the introduction to the order, the introduction of who Pio was, and you&#8217;re standing in front of the Mass that he used to serve mass at, and you&#8217;re trembling with fear, and there&#8217;s no way you can actually find the agency that he had.”
<h3>The Response</h3>
LaBeouf&#8217;s interview with Barron has garnered over a million views on YouTube. Many of those who praised the interview drew on their own emotional experiences attending the traditional Latin Mass.
“I&#8217;m protestant and enjoyed this interview very much,” one commenter wrote. “Very touching and thought provoking. Now I&#8217;m interested in experiencing a Latin Mass.”
“I grew up in the post-Vatican II church and I never felt anything for it. During COVID lockdowns, I started praying and somehow discovered the TLM and for the first time in my life, I loved attending Mass,” wrote another.
“I found a traditional Latin Mass parish and joined, and I even went to confession after 45 years of being away. I love the Traditional Latin Mass, and I actually thank God for COVID, because it brought me back to the faith. If you never been to a TLM, find one and you will fall in love with Catholicism,” one said.
Responding to the strong reaction to LaBeouf&#8217;s remarks, the Vatican&#8217;s liturgy office said that he would welcome a conversation with LaBeouf.
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“I&#8217;d like to know why he thinks that, what is his experience of the celebration of the Mass,” English Cardinal Arthur Roche, one of the clergy spearheading the restriction of the Latin Mass, <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vaticans-liturgy-head-latin-mass-convert-shia-labeouf-lets-talk">said</a>. “That&#8217;s what priests do; we try to talk to people.”
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But Roche also said that he hopes LaBeouf will find a similar experience in the Norvus Ordo form of the Mass, saying that the Mass “isn&#8217;t just something, a trait that belongs to the missal of 1962. It belongs to the reform.”
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“Reform of the liturgy was an enormous, long preparation prior to the council and the council is the highest legislation that exists in the church,” he continued. “Once that legislation comes into effect, it&#8217;s a very serious matter. You disregard that and you&#8217;re really putting yourself sideways towards the edges of the church.”
Roche described those who are reluctant to embrace the Vatican II reforms as “stubbornly opposing what the church has decreed,” saying, “that&#8217;s a very serious matter.”
He said, “In the end, people have to ask themselves, &#8216;Am I really a Catholic or am I more of a Protestant?&#8217;”
Catholics like Dougherty, a senior writer at National Review, believe that Vatican&#8217;s restrictions on the Latin Mass were done purposefully in order to “stamp out the old Latin Mass.”
“Pope Francis is using the papacy in precisely the way that progressives once claimed to deplore,” wrote Dougherty. “He centralizes power in Rome, usurps the local bishop’s prerogatives and institutes a micromanaging style that is motivated by paranoia of disloyalty and heresy. Perhaps it’s to protect his deepest beliefs.”
“I don’t know if bishops will adopt Francis’ zeal to crush the Latin Mass,” Dougherty muses. “I don’t know how painful they are willing to make our religious life. If they do, they will create — or reveal — more division in the church. The old slogan of the traditional Latin Mass movement comes to mind: We resist you to the face.”
One day, Dougherty emphasized, historians will look back on the move as the “worst spasm of iconoclasm in the church’s history — dwarfing the Byzantine iconoclasm of the ninth century and the Protestant Reformation.”
“Pope Benedict had temporarily allowed us to begin repairing the damage,&#8221; he writes. “What Pope Francis proposes with his crackdown is a new cover-up.”
LaBeouf did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story. “Padre Pio”, directed by Abel Ferrara, will premiere on September 2.
WATCH: 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Padre Pio Official Trailer 1 (2022) - Shia LaBeouf Movie" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mOd7fBjFJSE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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23rd Annual Hollywood Film Awards – Red Carpet

The Latin Mass, Cast Aside By the Vatican, Finds An Unexpected Ally

Catholic Church

Pope Francis

The Vatican

Actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/shia-labeouf">Shia LaBeouf</a> discussed the absence of discussing and understanding real masculinity in our culture during a sit-down conversation with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oDt8wWQsiA">Bishop Robert Barron</a> published this week.
LaBeouf has recently opened up about finding hope in God and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shia-labeouf-discusses-role-that-lead-to-his-conversion-to-catholicism-saved-my-life">converting to Catholicism</a>. The conversion came while the 36-year-old actor was preparing for his role as the late mystic St. Padre Pio in the upcoming film, “Padre Pio.”
“He keeps saying to me, &#8216;don&#8217;t make him [St. Padre Pio] weak&#8217; — like, meek and weak are two different things,” LaBeouf told Bishop Barron, recalling what priest Father James told him during his preparation for the role.
LaBeouf explained to the bishop that he, as a person who was never taught real masculinity, didn&#8217;t understand the difference between the two.
“&#8217;Let me explain the difference to you between being meek and being weak,&#8217;” the “American Honey&#8221; actor recalled Father James telling him. “&#8217;Meek is to be treasured, meek is to be valued, meek is a submissive respect; weak is having no faith&#8217; — he starts explaining stuff like that to me.”
LaBeouf said his understanding of meek was far different, noting that he never had a “puberty ceremony,” though he had participated in the Jewish ritual of a bar mitzvah at age 13.
“It&#8217;s not like I wandered off into the woods and I came back with a lion&#8217;s head,” he explained. “There&#8217;s no puberty ceremony for a young man today.”
“That&#8217;s a problem in our culture,” Bishop Barron interjected. “We&#8217;ve forgotten how to do that.”
“Yes, and you don&#8217;t really know what it is to be a man,” LaBeouf asserted.
The actor said Father James likened masculinity to a mountain, “because it&#8217;s immovable; wind is not going to move a mountain.”
“And then we start talking about my wife, and what a wife wants in a man, and being stable, and where that stability comes from in a man,” the 36-year-old continued, “and that it&#8217;s not going to be something you will, it&#8217;s going to be something you lean on. And that mountain is in that chapel.”
As highlighted by The Daily Wire, during the same sit-down, LeBeouf talked about how his sufferings are a gift, specifically referencing his ex-girlfriend, singer FKA Twigs, and accusations of abuse she&#8217;s leveled in a civil lawsuit against the actor.
“The suffering is actually a gift &#8230; you blessed me with this,” LeBeouf told Bishop Barron. “Old me, when I walked in, was so upset, so resentful of the woman who accused me of all this. I wanted to go on Twitter and write all these things, and I wanted to justify this, and explain all this. And now, I actually see, like, the woman saved my life.”
“She is, for me, a saint in my life. She saved my life,” he continued. “And that perspective switch feels miraculous.”
“What a spiritual experience is for me is not like talking to a cloud, or like supernatural; in my life, it&#8217;s a change in perspective,” LeBeouf added. “That feels miraculous to me. There&#8217;s no other way I could have done it on my own.”
FKA Twigs, real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett, filed a civil lawsuit against her ex LaBeouf for alleged abuse, sexual battery, assault, and emotional distress, <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/fka-twigs-has-trial-date-set-in-shia-labeouf-civil-case/">according</a> to Pitchfork. A court date is slated for April 17, 2023.
“What I went through with Shia was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life,” the singer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/arts/music/fka-twigs-shia-labeouf-abuse.html">told</a> The New York Times in 2020. “I don’t think people would ever think that it would happen to me. But I think that’s the thing. It can happen to anybody.”
LaBeouf the same year told the Times via email, “I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel. I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say.”
During the sit-down with Bishop Barron, LaBeouf repeatedly alluded to and discussed his past, which he said was filled with him hurting the people he loved the most. He also recalled a fallout with his mother sparked by his ex-girlfriend&#8217;s accusations, which included LaBeouf shooting at stray dogs to get into a role and knowingly giving Twigs an STD.
“I had a gun on the table. I was outta here,” LaBeouf said of his low point. “I didn’t want to be alive anymore when all of this happened. Shame like I had never experienced before — the kind of shame that you forget how to breathe. You don’t know where to go. You can’t go outside to get like, a taco. But I was also in this deep desire to hold on.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Bishop Barron Presents | Shia LaBeouf - Padre Pio and the Friars" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hjxKG4mR3U4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shia-labeouf-discusses-role-that-lead-to-his-conversion-to-catholicism-saved-my-life">Shia LaBeouf Discusses Role That Led To His Conversion To Catholicism, ‘Saved My Life’</a>

23rd Annual Hollywood Film Awards – Arrivals

‘You Don’t Really Know What It Is To Be A Man’: Actor Shia LaBeouf Discusses Cultural Absence Of Masculinity

Catholic Convert Shia LaBeouf Discusses Cultural Absence Of Masculinity 

Catholicism

Actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/shia-labeouf">Shia LaBeouf</a> said his ex-girlfriend <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shia-labeouf-denies-each-and-every-allegation-of-abuse-from-ex-girlfriend-fka-twigs">FKA Twigs</a>, who is suing him for alleged sexual battery and abuse, &#8220;saved his life&#8221; in a sit-down conversation with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oDt8wWQsiA">Bishop Robert Barron</a>.
LaBeouf has recently opened up about hitting rock bottom and then finding hope in God and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shia-labeouf-discusses-role-that-lead-to-his-conversion-to-catholicism-saved-my-life">converting to Catholicism</a>. The conversion came while the 36-year-old actor was preparing for his role as the late mystic St. Padre Pio in the upcoming film, “Padre Pio.”
“The suffering is actually a gift &#8230; you blessed me with this,” LeBeouf told Bishop Barron. “Old me, when I walked in, was so upset, so resentful of the woman who accused me of all this. I wanted to go on Twitter and write all these things, and I wanted to justify this, and explain all this. And now, I actually see, like, the woman saved my life.”
“She is, for me, a saint in my life. She saved my life,” the “American Honey” actor continued. “And that perspective switch feels miraculous.”
“What a spiritual experience is for me is not like talking to a cloud, or like supernatural; in my life, it&#8217;s a change in perspective,” he added. “That feels miraculous to me. There&#8217;s no other way I could have done it on my own.”
Singer FKA Twigs, real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett, filed a civil lawsuit against her ex LaBeouf for alleged abuse, sexual battery, assault, and emotional distress, <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/fka-twigs-has-trial-date-set-in-shia-labeouf-civil-case/">according</a> to Pitchfork. A court date is slated for April 17, 2023.
“What I went through with Shia was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life,” the singer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/arts/music/fka-twigs-shia-labeouf-abuse.html">told</a> The New York Times in 2020. “I don’t think people would ever think that it would happen to me. But I think that’s the thing. It can happen to anybody.”
LaBeouf the same year told the Times via email, “I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel. I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say.”
During the sit-down with Bishop Barron, LaBeouf repeatedly alluded to and discussed his past, which he said was filled with him hurting the people he loved the most. He also recalled a fallout with his mother sparked by his ex-girlfriend&#8217;s accusations, which included LaBeouf shooting at stray dogs to get into a role and knowingly giving Twigs an STD.
“I had a gun on the table. I was outta here,” LaBeouf said of his low point. “I didn’t want to be alive anymore when all of this happened. Shame like I had never experienced before — the kind of shame that you forget how to breathe. You don’t know where to go. You can’t go outside to get like, a taco. But I was also in this deep desire to hold on.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shia-labeouf-discusses-role-that-lead-to-his-conversion-to-catholicism-saved-my-life">Shia LaBeouf Discusses Role That Led To His Conversion To Catholicism, ‘Saved My Life’</a>

Premiere Of Amazon Studios “Honey Boy” – Arrivals

‘She Saved My Life’: Shia LaBeouf On Ex Who Accused Him Of Sexual Battery, Abuse

Shia LaBeouf says Ex FKA Twigs, Who Accused Him Of Sexual Battery And Abuse, 'Saved' His 'Life' 

After his departure from the talent agency CAA, actor Shia LaBeouf has denied “each and every” allegation of abuse made against him by his ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs, real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett.
A court filing obtained by <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1237011/shia-labeouf-denies-each-and-every-claim-in-fka-twigs-abuse-lawsuit">E! News</a> claims that the actor’s former girlfriend &#8220;has not suffered any injury or damage as a result of [his] actions&#8221; and is not entitled to any relief or damages. The filing was in response to a lawsuit issued by Barnett.
More from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/12/shia-labeoufs-legal-team-denies-abuse-claims-by-ex-girlfriend-fka-twigs">The Guardian</a>:
<blockquote>
The court document, filed on 5 February and made available to Reuters on Thursday, also states that the singer’s allegation of sexual battery was invalid “because none of the acts alleged were based on sex.”
The civil lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles superior court in December under her real name Tahliah Barnett, sought unspecified damages for alleged sexual battery, assault and emotional distress. Barnett also accused LaBeouf of emotional abuse during their year-long relationship in 2019.
The lawsuit states that in February 2019 Barnett was a passenger in a vehicle that LaBeouf was driving recklessly, and that he removed his seatbelt and threatened to crash unless she said she loved him. The pair had taken a trip to the desert outside Los Angeles, during which, Barnett alleged, LaBeouf once woke her up in the middle of the night by choking her.</blockquote>
This past December, Barnett filed a lawsuit against the actor, alleging she was the victim of sexual battery, assault, and emotional distress. She also claimed that the actor knowingly gave her an STD. Stylist Karolyn Pho, another former girlfriend of LaBeouf’s, was also named in the lawsuit.
“We tried to resolve this matter privately on the condition that Mr. LaBeouf agree to receive meaningful and consistent psychological treatment,” Barnett&#8217;s lawyer Bryan Freedman <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fka-twigs-sues-shia-labeouf-over-claims-of-sexual-battery-abuse-during-relationship">told THR</a> at the time. “Since he was unwilling to agree to get appropriate help, Ms. Barnett filed this suit to prevent others from unknowingly suffering similar abuse by him.”
Barnett said in a Twitter post at the time that she felt it necessary to talk about her experience with LaBeouf so that more women can understand that they can take action when they are under “coercive control.”
“It may be surprising to you to learn that I was in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. [It] was hard for me to process too, during and after I never thought something like this would happen to me,” she tweeted. “Which is why I have decided it’s important for me to talk about it and try to help people understand that when you are under the coercive control of an abuser or in an intimate partner violent relationship leaving doesn’t feel like a safe or achievable option.”
LaBeouf <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/arts/music/fka-twigs-shia-labeouf-abuse.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told</a> The New York Times at the time of the lawsuit that he has “been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years.”
“I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel. I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say,” the actor said.
This past week, Shia LaBeouf and the talent agency CAA departed ways after he checked himself in for inpatient treatment this past December.
Related:<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/talent-agency-caa-no-longer-representing-actor-shia-labeouf"> Talent Agency CAA No Longer Representing Actor Shia LaBeouf Amid Accusations Of Sexual Abuse</a>

Shia LaBeouf Denies ‘Each And Every’ Allegation Of Abuse From Ex-Girlfriend FKA Twigs

The fallout for actor Shia LaBeouf has come swiftly amid accusations of sexual abuse from his former girlfriends.
According to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/caa-no-longer-representing-shia-labeouf-following-claims-of-sexual-battery">The Hollywood Reporter</a> (THR), the &#8220;Transformers&#8221; actor is no longer being represented by the talent agency CAA. He also checked himself in for inpatient treatment about a month ago. CAA has not publicly commented on his departure from the agency.
&#8220;Sources say LaBeouf checked into inpatient treatment over a month ago and that the decision to step away from acting and the entertainment business was made then. He remains in treatment, according to sources, although it is unclear what he is being treated for,&#8221; reported THR. &#8220;One source said LaBeouf is the one who decided to step away from the agency,&#8221; the outlet added.
CAA&#8217;s reported decision to drop LaBeouf comes amid reports that the agency likewise dropped Marilyn Manson as a result of Evan Rachel Wood accusing him of past abuse.
This past December, LaBeouf&#8217;s former girlfriend, FKA twigs (Tahliah Debrett Barnett), filed a lawsuit against the actor, alleging she was the victim of sexual battery, assault, and emotional distress. She also claimed that the actor knowingly gave her an STD. Stylist Karolyn Pho, another former girlfriend of LaBeouf&#8217;s, was also named in the lawsuit.
“We tried to resolve this matter privately on the condition that Mr. LaBeouf agree to receive meaningful and consistent psychological treatment,&#8221; FKA twigs&#8217; lawyer Bryan Freedman <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fka-twigs-sues-shia-labeouf-over-claims-of-sexual-battery-abuse-during-relationship">told THR</a> at the time. &#8220;Since he was unwilling to agree to get appropriate help, Ms. Barnett filed this suit to prevent others from unknowingly suffering similar abuse by him.”
FKA twigs said in a Twitter post at the time that she felt it necessary to talk about her experience with LaBeouf so that more women can understand that they can take action when they are under coercive control.
&#8220;It may be surprising to you to learn that I was in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. [It] was hard for me to process too, during and after I never thought something like this would happen to me,&#8221; she tweeted. &#8220;Which is why I have decided it’s important for me to talk about it and try to help people understand that when you are under the coercive control of an abuser or in an intimate partner violent relationship leaving doesn’t feel like a safe or achievable option.&#8221;
LaBeouf <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/arts/music/fka-twigs-shia-labeouf-abuse.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told</a> The New York Times at the time of the lawsuit that he has &#8220;been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years.&#8221;
“I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel. I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say,&#8221; the actor said.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shia-labeouf-accused-of-brownface-in-latest-movie-role-director-responds">Shia LaBeouf Accused Of ‘Brownface’ In Latest Movie Role. Director Responds.</a>

2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards  – Arrivals

Talent Agency CAA No Longer Representing Actor Shia LaBeouf Amid Accusations Of Sexual Abuse

Hollywood

The Twitter mob has targetted actor Shia LaBeouf for playing a gangster in the upcoming David Ayer-directed crime drama &#8220;The Tax Collector,&#8221; alleging he will be performing in &#8220;brownface.&#8221; Just one problem: the character LaBeouf will be playing is a whiteboy, not a Latino.
According to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/shia-labeouf-brownface-movie-role-david-ayer-responds">Fox News</a>, LaBeouf will be making an interesting career turn as a crime boss who swindles &#8220;taxes&#8221; from Los Angeles street gangs. Given that LaBeouf is a Jewish guy acting in a movie with predominantly black and Latino actors, people on Twitter believed the role was some kind of &#8220;brownface&#8221; after the trailer dropped online. Take a look:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
New trailer for David Ayer&#39;s &#39;The Tax Collector&#39; starring Shia LaBeouf and Bobby Soto <a href="https://t.co/XnBh9d6cqu">pic.twitter.com/XnBh9d6cqu</a>
&mdash; Culture Crave 🎥 (@CultureCrave) <a href="https://twitter.com/CultureCrave/status/1278379883903610880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Twitter outrage mob was both fast and furious in its condemnation of LaBeouf&#8217;s undeniably electric performance.
&#8220;Oh hey, another movie w/ Latinos and Blacks in glorified gang culture on steroids that reinforces stereotypes &amp; fears for white folks &amp; promotes the cop mentality that &#8216;it’s a battlefield out there.&#8217; Sigh&#8230;..Hollywood, come on. We don’t need this right now,&#8221; tweeted one user.
“It’s so sad we don’t have enough Chicano actors who were in the gang life for roles like this. Thank God for that little white boy stepping in and saving the day,” tweeted another user.
&#8220;Shia Labouf in a new movie and I’m really hoping he’s not playing brownface,&#8221; tweeted another.
Director David Ayer (&#8220;End of Watch&#8221;) immediately responded to the backlash by clarifying that Shia LaBeouf will not be playing a Latino gangster in &#8220;The Tax Collector&#8221; but rather a white gangster who grew up in the hood. Ayer said the role was evocative of his own life experience as a white man who grew up in the hood.
“Really important answer &#8211; Shia is playing a whiteboy who grew up in the hood. This is a Jewish dude playing a white character. Also the only white dude in the movie,” Ayer tweeted.
“I grew up hood and I’m a whiteboy. Chicano culture is inclusive &#8211; I’ve seen whiteys, Asians, Blacks, Filipinos all putting in work for the hood. It’s part of street culture,” he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Really important answer &#8211; Shia is playing a whiteboy who grew up in the hood. This is a Jewish dude playing a white character. Also the only white dude in the movie 💁‍♂️ <a href="https://t.co/PS6foJwQXV">https://t.co/PS6foJwQXV</a>
&mdash; David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidAyerMovies/status/1278419491009904640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I grew up hood and I’m a whiteboy. Chicano culture is inclusive &#8211; I’ve seen whiteys, Asians, Blacks, Filipinos all putting in work for the hood. It’s part of street culture. <a href="https://t.co/PS6foJwQXV">https://t.co/PS6foJwQXV</a>
&mdash; David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidAyerMovies/status/1278419916547166209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Ayer praised the actor for his extensive research into the role, going the extra mile to get the culture right. When one social justice warrior accused Ayer of making another cop movie, the director shot back, &#8220;It ain’t a cop movie. And Shia is playing something very specific. Not brown face.&#8221;
LaBeouf apparently<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/shia-labeouf-tattooed-chest-tax-collector-david-ayer"> dedicated himself so strongly</a> to his role in &#8220;The Tax Collector&#8221; that he even tattooed his whole chest.
&#8220;He’s one of the best actors I’ve worked with, and he’s the most committed to body and soul,&#8221; David Ayer told Slash Film. &#8220;He had a tooth pulled on &#8216;Fury,&#8217; and then on &#8216;Tax Collector,&#8217; he got his whole chest tattooed. So, he kind of goes all in, and I’ve never known anyone that committed.&#8221;
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers with the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe"> member</a>.

Shia LaBeouf Accused Of ‘Brownface’ In Latest Movie Role. Director Responds.

During the Sunday, February 9 Academy Awards broadcast, actors Shia LaBeouf and Zack Gottsagen presented the award for best Live Action Short Film.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HAsO2CE2bGk" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
During the presentation, LaBeouf appeared to smile and lightly laugh several times. This didn’t sit well with some, who took to social media following the presentation in order to voice their displeasure with what they believed was mockery at Gottsagen’s expense.
Gottsagen, 34, has Down syndrome.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Is it just me or did Shia Labeouf seem super annoyed to be sharing that announcement? Not cool Shia&#8230;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oscars?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Oscars</a>
— Beth Kriner (@bethers137) <a href="https://twitter.com/bethers137/status/1226684566196359172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>Is it just me or did Shia Labeouf seem super annoyed to be sharing that announcement? Not cool Shia&#8230;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oscars?src=hash">#Oscars</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We gonna talk about <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/shialabeouf?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#shialabeouf</a> being a dick to that kid with Down syndrome? Dude straight stole that kids moment <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oscars2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Oscars2020</a> let him have his moment <a href="https://t.co/jRU8v3EDgf">pic.twitter.com/jRU8v3EDgf</a>
— Rae (@gangstahgandalf) <a href="https://twitter.com/gangstahgandalf/status/1226685341932781570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>We gonna talk about <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/shialabeouf?src=hashtag_click">#shialabeouf</a> being a dick to that kid with Down syndrome? Dude straight stole that kids moment #Oscars2020. Let him have his moment.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
I came to Twitter just to tweet that it was not cool that he snickered when the other person struggled. VERY not cool.
— S H Messner (@shallmess) <a href="https://twitter.com/shallmess/status/1226685655570272257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>I came to Twitter just to tweet that it was not cool that he snickered when the other person struggled. VERY not cool.</blockquote>
Just as quickly as LaBeouf’s critics sent out their tweets, other users jumped in to defend the actor:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
90% of twitter right now has never heard of The Peanut Butter Falcon and doesn’t know about the sweet friendship between Shia LaBeouf and Zack Gottsagen. Direct your misguided judgement somewhere else.
— Will Tempfer (@wtempfer) <a href="https://twitter.com/wtempfer/status/1226687849975689217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>90% of twitter right now has never heard of The Peanut Butter Falcon and doesn’t know about the sweet friendship between Shia LaBeouf and Zack Gottsagen. Direct your misguided judgement somewhere else.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
As a mom of a young man with Down Syndrome, it is refreshing to see two friends present together without the pandering and handholding that often accompanies such a relationship. Shia treated Zack like an equal, not like a baby. That’s a healthy relationship. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheOscars?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheOscars</a>
— Randi Downs (@randidowns45) <a href="https://twitter.com/randidowns45/status/1226698044659445760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>As a mom of a young man with Down Syndrome, it is refreshing to see two friends present together without the pandering and handholding that often accompanies such a relationship. Shia treated Zack like an equal, not like a baby. That’s a healthy relationship. <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/TheOscars?src=hashtag_click">#TheOscars</a></blockquote>
Even LaBeouf’s “Honey Boy” director, Alma Har’el, jumped into the fray, noting that the actor said he would only present at the ceremony if Gottsagen could be up there with him.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Shia was offered to present an Oscar. He said he would do it if he can share that moment with his beloved co-star Zach Gottsagen who we all adore. It’s stressful up there&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/F75aT1vURa">pic.twitter.com/F75aT1vURa</a>
— Alma Har&#8217;el(@Almaharel) <a href="https://twitter.com/Almaharel/status/1226694550950858752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>Shia was offered to present an Oscar. He said he would do it if he can share that moment with his beloved co-star Zach Gottsagen who we all adore. It’s stressful up there.</blockquote>
For some context, during the filming of “The Peanut Butter Falcon” in the summer of 2017, LaBeouf was arrested and charged with “obstruction, disorderly conduct, and public drunkenness,” reports <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/08/entertainment/shia-labeouf-arrest/index.html">CNN</a>.
Co-start Zack Gottsagen, with whom LaBeouf formed a friendship, reportedly helped him in his recovery.
During an October 2019 <a href="https://www.insider.com/shia-labeouf-zack-gottsagen-peanut-butter-falcon-arrest-2019-10">interview</a> with Channel 4’s Cathy Neman, LaBeouf said that during filming after his arrest, Gottsagen “nursed me back, on a boat, during a scene where we&#8217;re talking about, like, the painful past.”
Speaking with Newman, Gottsagen said he told LaBeouf that he had “one chance to prove to himself: never, never, never do this kind of stuff again.”
LaBeouf explained to Newman that his friendship with Gottsagen, and that moment, had a major impact on his life.
The actor made a similar statement during a lengthy interview with <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a19181320/shia-labeouf-interview-2018/">Esquire</a> in 2018:
<blockquote>To hear him say that he was disappointed in me probably changed the course of my life. &#8230; He keeps it one thousand with you, and that sh*t doesn’t even make sense to him. Zack can’t not shoot straight, and bless him for it, [because] in that moment, I needed a straight shooter who I couldn’t argue with.</blockquote>
Following the Oscars presentation, the backlash, and the backlash to the backlash, Gottsagen’s mother Shelly spoke out, telling <a href="https://toofab.com/2020/02/10/shia-labeouf-would-never-disrespect-friend-zack-gottsagen-says-mom-exclusive/">TooFab</a>:
<blockquote>I would hate to see any misconception out there. I mean, you know, Shia is just wonderful, you know, we really love him. If anything, I think they were grinning because it was hard to get the envelope open.</blockquote>
Gottsagen’s mother added that the “respect that Shia and Zack have for each other is beautiful.”
<blockquote>Their friendship is really, really beautiful. And, you know, it just, it upset me when I thought that somebody was thinking that Shia could have ever had a kind of negative attitude [because] he&#8217;s been nothing, nothing, nothing but supportive.</blockquote>
“They&#8217;re very tight. They love each other, really encourage each other,&#8221; she continued. Gottsagen’s mother also noted that LaBeouf is “very supportive of Zack as an actor.”

Shia LaBeouf and Zack Gottsagen

Zack Gottsagen’s Mother Defends Shia LaBeouf After Oscars ‘Controversy’

Down Syndrome

Oscars

With the upcoming release of &#8220;Honey Boy,&#8221; actor Shia LaBeouf has been making a serious effort to publicly exorcise himself of the demons that have so plagued him in recent years. Now, two years after his infamous arrest for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct, he has publicly thanked the officer from that fateful night for being the spark that helped turn his life around for the better.
&#8220;I want to thank the police officer who arrested me in Georgia, for changing my life,&#8221; LaBeouf said at the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/entertainment/events">Hollywood Film Awards</a> on Sunday night, as reported by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/shia-labeouf-arrest-police-officer-changing-my-life">Fox News</a>.
In July 2017, while Shia was filming &#8220;Peanut Butter Falcon,&#8221; an officer with Savannah PD arrested the actor for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct after he launched into a profanity-laced tirade at someone for not giving him a cigarette. Fox News has more:
<blockquote>Investigators said <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/category/us/crime">the former child actor became disorderly</a>, “using profanities and vulgar language in front of the women and children present.” When he was told to leave, police alleged he refused and became aggressive toward an officer, then ran to a nearby hotel to avoid arrest.
LaBeouf pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction, was ordered to pay $2,680 in fines and fees, perform 100 hours of community service, enroll in anger management counseling and complete a drug and alcohol evaluation.</blockquote>
Indeed, the arrest appears to have helped turn Shia&#8217;s life around; during rehab, he wrote the script for &#8220;Honey Boy,&#8221; a semi-autobiographical piece inspired by his life as a child star in which he plays his own alcoholic and abusive father. Critics have since been hailing &#8220;Honey Boy&#8221; as a masterpiece with a <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/honey_boy">97% on Rotten Tomatoes</a>.
&#8220;The director Alma Har&#8217;el does play with time and reality throughout but there remains a genuine heart to LaBeouf&#8217;s script, the clear-eyed work of a man at pains trying to figure out how delving into his past might help fix his present,&#8221; wrote Benjamin Lee of The Guardian.
&#8220;In many ways [it] resembles other films about chaotic childhoods, alcoholism, and abuse. It distinguishes itself in the manner it weaves the concerns of an actor into that trauma,&#8221; said  Emily Yoshida of New York Magazine.
Actor Robert Downey Jr., who presented LaBeouf the award for breakout screenwriting over the weekend, hailed the movie as &#8220;damn near perfect&#8221; and &#8220;easily the best and bravest film I have seen in years.&#8221;
Aside from the police officer, LaBeouf <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shia-labeouf-explains-how-co-star-with-down-syndrome-saved-his-life">recently thanked</a> his co-star in &#8220;Peanut Butter Falcon,&#8221; Zack Gottsagen, an actor with Down syndrome, for contributing to his recovery.
“I had never worked with an actor like him,” said LaBeouf, as reported by <a href="https://www.liveaction.org/news/shia-labeouf-costar-down-syndrome-saved-life/?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=facebook">Live Action</a>. “I’d never been involved in a project like this. It felt like it was going to be a really freeing experience, and to be quite frank, I was terrified. I knew that he’d be playing lead guitar, you know, and I’d be playing bass to him. If he went left, I’d have to go left. I’d never been in a situation where so much is dependent on staying open, and reacting, and listening to another performer. I’ve been quite selfish in my choices and my way of working before.”
“The kid in me died and I just got over all this,” he continued. “This roller coaster wasn’t fun after a while. You ride the same roller coaster, it just loses its appeal. Then you go on it with someone who hasn’t been on it before, and somehow, it sparks back up.”

Shia LaBeouf Thanks Police Officer Who Arrested Him ‘For Changing My Life’

Robert Downey Jr.

In a time when children with Down syndrome are literally being exterminated in parts of the world, actor Shia LaBeouf is now crediting one individual with Down syndrome with saving his life.
Speaking with the United Kingdom&#8217;s <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/actor-shia-labeouf-credits-co-star-with-downs-syndrome-with-saving-his-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cathy Newman of Channel 4</a>, Shia LaBeouf expounded on how his relationship with Zack Gottsagen – an actor with Down syndrome who starred alongside the former &#8220;Transformers&#8221; actor in the critically-acclaimed &#8220;The Peanut Butter Falcon&#8221; – literally altered his destructive habits.
“I had never worked with an actor like him,” said LaBeouf, as reported by <a href="https://www.liveaction.org/news/shia-labeouf-costar-down-syndrome-saved-life/?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=facebook">Live Action</a>. “I’d never been involved in a project like this. It felt like it was going to be a really freeing experience, and to be quite frank, I was terrified. I knew that he’d be playing lead guitar, you know, and I’d be playing bass to him. If he went left, I’d have to go left. I’d never been in a situation where so much is dependent on staying open, and reacting, and listening to another performer. I’ve been quite selfish in my choices and my way of working before.”
&#8220;The kid in me died and I just got over all this,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;This roller coaster wasn’t fun after a while. You ride the same roller coaster, it just loses its appeal. Then you go on it with someone who hasn’t been on it before, and somehow, it sparks back up.”
LaBeouf recalled being arrested during filming for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct and how Gottsagen&#8217;s compassion and chastisement shook him out of his behavior.
“To hear him say that he was disappointed in me probably changed the course of my life,” LaBeouf said. “Cause I was still fighting. &#8230; Just on my defense-mechanism-fear garbage. And you can’t do that to him. He keeps it one thousand with you. &#8230; Zack can’t not shoot straight, and bless him for it ’cause in that moment, I needed a straight shooter who I couldn’t argue with.”
“The day after I got arrested, we were on a boat. I couldn’t really look at anybody in the eye,” he continued. “I was sitting next to him, and he put his hand on my shoulder, and like, nursed me back on a boat during the scene where we’re talking about the painful past. That stuff hurts; that stuff hurt to go through and to feel.”
Gottsagen recalled crying in the moment while resolving to give Shia a chance to recover. “I was sad. I cried,” he said. “But I’m still gonna take that chance for myself, to give Shia one chance to prove to himself never, never, never do this kind of stuff again.”
Europe has been leading the charge against babies with Down syndrome this past decade, signaling what the United States could possibly become if the abortion of such children becomes even more commonplace. In 2006, Denmark had just four babies born with Down syndrome. In Iceland, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/19726/speaking-nazis-iceland-disappearing-down-syndrome-john-nolte">abortion of babies with Down syndrome has reached near 100%</a>. France has gotten in on the race, too. Most recently, the country <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/11074/france-bans-ad-featuring-kids-down-syndrome-frank-camp">banned a television commercial</a> featuring children with Down syndrome because it upset mothers who previously aborted their own children with Down syndrome.
As unborn children with Down syndrome are quickly being exterminated across the globe, some states have stepped up efforts to protect them – such as Ohio, which passed the Ohio Right to Life’s Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act in 2017.

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