Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | February 17, 2026
I lived in Metairie, Louisiana, for about three years when I was younger (my family moved around quite a bit before settling back in Western Mass), putting us about ten to fifteen minutes from New Orleans (if memory serves). While I may have been too young to drink or flash my chest at people for beads, I was certainly enamored with Mardi Gras regardless. The lights, floats, and music are still burned into my brain, feeling almost dreamlike in how fantastical they were. But imagine how much more bizarre it would have been if Shia LaBeouf were rampaging around shirtless and giving unsolicited acting advice to bartenders.
That appears to be the case in my former home, as The Hollywood Reporter claims that LaBeouf is currently making the rounds in New Orleans. To say the Megalopolis star has a controversial past would be an understatement. Just looking at his recent years shows abuse accusations from his former partner, FKA Twigs, and a full-throated Mel Gibson-endorsed turn toward Catholicism and sobriety to combat them. Things ain’t been great, and now, LaBeouf has allegedly fallen off the wagon and is “terrorizing” New Orleans.
The Reporter has many alleged eyewitness accounts of the child actor’s behavior, which does not sound great. One such source claimed that he showed up at a bar drunk and shirtless and was turned away at the door. Another alleged that he tried to get behind the bar to whip up cocktails at a local establishment and was asked to, ya know, not do that. A bartender accused LaBeouf of repeatedly trying to pay with his card despite multiple “cash only” signs at the establishment.
And just this morning, Variety reports that LaBeauf was arrested on two counts of simple battery for getting into a bar fight.
Immediately, my mind goes to how much this must be a bane on the people just trying to make a living in that area. My sister-in-law lives and works there; it’s a good community, and they don’t need a celebrity there, seemingly with the sole purpose of showing his whole ass. I’ve had to bartend for a few famous folks in my time, and it’s just so easy for them not to be obnoxious that when they are, it really stands out (I’m looking at you, Ethan Hawke, I don’t control the prices).
Hopefully, LaBeouf gets his shiz together. I don’t want to see someone fall back into alcoholism, even if they’ve spent plenty of years terrorizing people. Your own issues are not an excuse to make the lives of other people miserable. So, while I don’t feel bad for LaBeouf, I hope he cleans up and leaves New Orleans alone. They can’t just replace him with Harry Styles like Olivia Wilde did.
