Trigger warning: sexual abuse, mental abuse, domestic violence
Celebrations for Shia LaBeouf's grand return to the red carpet for the first time in four years left a bitter taste in many women’s mouths amid singer FKA twigs’ pending sexual battery trial against him, highlighting Hollywood’s unwavering forgiveness toward male perpetrators of abuse.
Highlights
- Shia LaBeouf's Cannes appearance amid FKA Twigs' abuse trial ignited outrage.
- Public backlash highlighted Hollywood's pattern of forgiving male abusers.
- FKA Twigs accused Shia of 'relentless physical, emotional, and mental abuse'.
Shia made a rare public appearance at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where he has been rolling out his upcoming film, Megalopolis, People reported on May 16.
The 37-year-old actor was at the 77th edition of the annual event in the South of France along with his costars Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Grace VanderWaal, and Giancarlo Esposito.
Access Hollywood took to its official X page (formerly known as Twitter) last Friday (May 17) to share clips of Shia looking dapper on the red carpet wearing a tuxedo and sporting bleached blond hair.
Shia LaBeouf's return to the red carpet at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival amid FKA twigs' pending sexual battery trial against him sparked outrage
Image credits: Getty
Nevertheless, the post, which amassed nearly 27 million views, has been receiving growing backlash, especially from women expressing their disappointment over the apparent glorification of yet another male actor evading societal consequences for sex crime accusations.
An X user wrote: “Remember when Shia LaBeouf victim blamed Mia Goth saying that she pushes him to violence and her behavior is what makes him abusive?
“Let a group of local men also yell in her face during their argument?”
Image credits: paramountpictures
Mia Goth is Shia’s wife and the mother to their two-year-old daughter. In 2015, one year before getting married, the Transformers star and the 30-year-old actress were filmed in an altercation in Germany.
Footage of the fight was shared by Entertainment Tonight at the time and showed Shia and Mia yelling at each other outside a taxi by a hotel.
The California native was filmed walking away before meeting a group of German men, who offered to drive him to the airport.
Many believed his appearance highlighted Hollywood's tendency to forgive male abusers
Image credits: paramountpictures
Upon getting into their car, Mia was filmed returning and taking Shia’s backpack, begging him not to go.
“I don’t wanna touch you. I don’t wanna be aggressive. This is the kind of s**t that makes a person abusive,” the actor could be heard telling the Pearl star after he stepped out of the car, getting visibly upset.
Shia was then heard pleading with Mia, now wearing his backpack, to return it to him, repeatedly saying to her, “Can I have my bag please,” “I just want my bag,” and “Please just give me my bag.”
Image credits: paramountpictures
The German men were subsequently seen ordering Mia to give back his backpack, too.
At one point during their confrontation, Shia was seen putting his hands up as Mia approached him.
Sometime later, with his backpack back in his possession, the actor made a chilling statement en route to the airport: “If I’d have stayed there, I would have killed her,” before adding: “It’s hard bro -- really f**ked up -- in your heart.”
Shia is to appear in a trial in October 2024 after FKA twigs filed a lawsuit in 2020, accusing him of relentless physical, emotional, and mental abuse
Image credits: paramountpictures
A handful of women on X pointed to the ongoing legal case against Shia, who was sued by his ex-girlfriend Tahliah Debrett Barnett (AKA FKA twigs) for sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress.
The lawsuit also detailed allegations that he abused another ex-girlfriend, stylist Karolyn Pho.
“He nearly killed FKA Twigs multiple times, he assaulted (his wife and mother of their daughter) Mia Goth on camera, and is that Jon f*****g Voight holding his hand?!? tell me again how women's rights have gone too far,” a viewer commented.
In recent years, Jon Voight has been reported to have a tumultuous relationship with his daughter, Angelina Jolie, marked by his infidelity and subsequent divorce from her late mother, Marcheline Bertrand.
Among other controversies, including his conservative political stance, the 85-year-old actor has publicly criticized Angelina, describing her as having "mental problems," as per Factinate.
Image credits: fkatwigs
“Shia LeBeouf beat, held hostage & tormented FKA Twigs with a gun, but, go off Access Hollywood,” an additional commentator noted.
A woman added: “He beat and held a woman hostage you freaks. He is an abuser.”
“Access Hollywood promoting an abuser or what?” a person asked.
A separate individual chimed in: “Friendly reminder that Shia LaBeouf will be on trial this year for strangling & raping FKA Twigs.”
FKA twigs told The New York Times in 2021: "What I went through with Shia was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life."
In December 2020, FKA twigs filed a lawsuit against Shia, accusing him of relentless physical, emotional, and mental abuse, including an incident where he drove recklessly and assaulted her, as well as knowingly giving her a sexually transmitted disease.
In 2019, the singer, who dated Shia from 2018 to 2019, was in a car driven by Shia, who was speeding toward Los Angeles.
According to an exposé published by The New York Times in January 2021, the actor was driving recklessly, removing his seatbelt, and threatening to crash unless she professed her love for him, the lawsuit stated.
Moreover, the lawsuit centers on an incident where Shia allegedly choked the British artist during a trip and later assaulted her at a gas station after she pleaded to be let out of the car.
Karolyn Pho, a stylist who is another of Shia's former girlfriends, described similarly tumultuous experiences to The Times, some of which were also outlined in the lawsuit.
Once, the suit said, he drunkenly pinned her to a bed and head-butted her hard enough that she bled.
In 2015, Shia was filmed saying, "I would have killed her," during a fight with Mia Goth
According to the lawsuit, Shia isolated FKA twigs from her support network and kept a loaded firearm by their bed.
“What I went through with Shia was the worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life,” the 36-year-old musician told The Times at the time.
The lawsuit will be played out on October 14, 2024, in a trial with Shia, who has since denied all allegations, Vulture reported in September 2023.
Shia's ex, Margaret Qualley, publicly supported FKA twigs
Image credits: ABC Distribution
After FKA twigs detailed her abuse story to Elle magazine back in February 2021, citing: “It's a miracle I came out alive,” Margaret Qualley, who dated Shia in 2020, posted the Elle cover on her Instagram account with the caption “Thank you.”
The 29-year-old actress later told Harper’s Bazaar in September 2021: “It was important to me for her to know that I believe her—and it’s as simple as that.”
"He's proof cancel culture doesn't exist," a reader commented
