Summary: Performance artist and actor, Shia LaBeouf, has been sued by a bartender that LaBeouf called a “racist” in a viral video.
Shia LaBeouf allegedly called a white bartender a “racist” because he wouldn’t serve the white actor or his white wife any booze, and now the bartender is suing the former Even Stevens actor for $5 million.
Bartender David Bernstein of Jerry’s Famous Deli in Los Angeles filed his lawsuit last week. He is seeking $5 million in damages for defamation.
On April 5, LaBeouf and his wife Mia Goth entered Jerry’s Famous Deli, which is next to a bowling alley, and the hot-headed LaBeouf was allegedly already drunk when he demanded more drinks. Bernstein refused, and LaBeouf walked into the workers’ only area and started to call him a “racist.”
Bernstein said that he had feared for his safety so he grabbed a Grey Goose bottle to protect himself. In a video recorded by a bystander, LaBeouf can be heard yelling, “I’m asking you about French fries, and you want to hit me in the head with a Grey Goose bottle!”
A belligerent LaBeouf was eventually escorted out of the bar.
A video was shot of the incident and went viral. Bernstein said he was humiliated by what had happened, and that being called a “racist” hurt him because Jerry’s Famous Deli had a large African-American clientele.
Bernstein’s lawsuit said that he “experienced significant emotional distress, anxiety and fear” because of the altercation with LaBeouf, who has a history of emotional outbursts and violence.
Earlier this year, LaBeouf, 30, attacked a 25-year-old white supremacist during a Donald Trump protest, and that incident was also caught on camera. The video went viral, and the actor was charged with misdemeanor assault and a harassment violation.
In 2014, LaBeouf had also found himself in trouble with the law when he got into a fight with a homeless man. He later admitted to being drunk at the time.
LaBeouf’s attorney, Brian Wold, told People that Bernstein’s lawsuit was “baseless.”
“The statements attributed to Shia forming the basis of the action do not remotely constitute ‘defamation,’” Wold said. “The case is little more than an effort to harass our client. We will [vigorously] defend and seek dismissal of this frivolous action and will seek recovery of all attorneys fees and costs from the plaintiff.”
In the early 2000s, Shia LaBeouf gained fame as a Disney star, playing Louis Stevens on Disney’s Even Stevens. He followed that project with roles in big hits such as the movie “Holes,” and in 2007, he began to shed his Disney image with parts in Disturbia and the Transformers franchise. It was during this evolution that he began to get in trouble with the law. In 2005, he was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, and he has been embroiled in several controversies that range from plagiarism to violence.
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Photo courtesy of Youtube