Shia LaBeouf accused of hate crime in Mardi Gras brawl

One of the alleged victims of Shia LaBeouf’s Mardi Gras meltdown has accused the actor of targeting him in a hate crime.

Jeffrey Damnit, who was born Jeffrey Klein, is asking prosecutors to upgrade charges against LaBeouf, 39, who currently faces two counts of simple battery after he was arrested for allegedly attacking two bartenders just after midnight Tuesday in New Orleans.

Hours before video was taken of the Transformers star fighting and being restrained on city streets, Damnit said he ran into the actor around 5 p.m. Monday, when LaBeouf allegedly knocked him over. He recalled to The Hollywood Reporter, “Then he turned around screaming, ‘Don’t you f***ing push me. I’ll kill you.’ I hadn’t touched him.”

Damnit said he tried to deescalate the situation, but LaBeouf allegedly then shoved a finger in his face and called him a homophobic slur.

In a Wednesday interview with The Guardian, Damnit said that he was wearing mascara, eye shadow and lipstick when LaBeouf allegedly attacked him while screaming, “You’re a f***ing f****t.” Damnit shared a video with the outlet that showed LaBeouf being examined by first responders at the scene before glancing over at Damnit and again calling him a slur.

“Keep on calling me f****t,” Damnit was heard saying on the video, The Guardian reported. The outlet noted that in initial police reports, officers said that the controversial former child star spoke about his Catholic faith and was heard saying, “These f****ts put me in jail.”

However, the allegation that he was spewing homophobic slurs at his alleged victims was left out of the official charging paperwork. NOPD refused to comment further on The Independent’s request, citing the ongoing investigation.

Damnit, an actor who visits New Orleans several times a year, told local Fox affiliate WVUE that he wants LaBeouf to be charged with 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,” Damnit said. He did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment.

Louisiana law allows state prosecutors to file hate crime charges in cases where victims were targeted “because of actual or perceived race, age, gender, sexual orientation.”

LaBeouf was released from jail Tuesday and is due back in court March 19. The actor has not commented publicly on the charges against him, but has shared cryptic posts on his X account since his arrest, including a message simply saying, “Free me.”