Shia LaBeouf's Latest Apology Rips Off Shepard Fairey

In what can now almost certainly be called an extended act of trolling, Shia LaBeouf's apology for his plagiarized (from Yahoo! Answers) apology for his plagiarized (from Daniel Clowes) short film is plagiarized from artist Shepard Fairey.

In what can now almost certainly be called an extended act of trolling, Shia LaBeouf's apology for his plagiarized (from Yahoo! Answers) apology for his plagiarized (from Daniel Clowes) short film is plagiarized from artist Shepard Fairey.

I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment & I do take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone.

— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) December 19, 2013

That is word-for-word taken from the statement Fairey gave to the AP when the news service was suing him for using an AP photo for his iconic Obama Hope poster:

"In an attempt to conceal my mistake, I submitted false images and deleted other images," said Fairey, who has been involved in countersuits with the AP, which has alleged copyright infringement. "I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone."

Unless there's just a Handbook for the Recently PR-Embattled out there, like the Handbook for the Recently Deceased in Beetlejuice, that's providing quote templates for anybody mired in a scandal, this seems like a rather purposeful (and purposefully obvious) ripoff. Whether this was all a big ol' art project from the beginning or whether he's just getting clever in order to skirt further criticism remains to be seen.