“Transformers” star Shia LaBeouf has been caught in an embarrassing plagiarism debacle.
The former Disney kid, now 27, was accused of stealing the entire plot for the film “HowardCantour.com” from a comic strip — and when the aspiring auteur tried to make a mea culpa, it appears he may have stolen those words as well.
The cartoonist, Daniel Clowes, was shocked to find his work lifted without attribution when the film was posted online Monday.
After Clowes told BuzzFeed that he has never even spoken to LaBeouf about the project, the contrite actor gave a heartfelt confession on Twitter.
“I’m embarrassed that I failed to credit @danielclowes for his original graphic novella,” LaBeouf tweeted.
“Copying isn’t particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else’s idea to produce something new and different IS creative work.”
That piece of LaBeouf’s apology was almost exactly the same as a post on Yahoo answers that addresses a Pablo Picasso quote about “stealing” art.
“Merely copying isn’t particularly creative work,” the poster, Lili, said more than four years ago. “Being inspired by someone else’s idea to produce something new and different IS creative work.”