After his recent plagiarism scandal and multiple, confusing apologies on Twitter, Shia LaBoeuf is claiming that it has all been part of an act.  In a move reminiscent of Joaquin Phoenix’s antics in 2009, LaBeouf posted two long notes to Twitter explaining that it was all part of a plan, according to Aceshowbiz.com.

In late 2013, LaBeouf confessed that he plagiarized the work of comic writer Daniel Clowes for his 2012 comedy short titled HowardCantour.com, according to Defamer.  Directed by LaBeouf, the short stars stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan as internet film critic Howard Cantour, and takes a look into the culture of film criticism.  The piece very clearly lifted much from Daniel Clowes’ comic called “Justin M. Damiano”.  LaBeouf later apologized with what was itself, another act of plagiarism.  Defamer reported that his issued apology turned out to be copied from a Yahoo! Answers user that went by the username “Lili”.

That same week, Buzzfeed reported that comics LaBeouf had written took directly from passages from Charles Bukowski’s poem “More Arguments” and Benoit Duteurtre’s novel The Little Girl and the Cigarette.  In his attempt to apologize, LaBeouf first tweeted, “I have let my family down, and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.”  This was taken word-for-word from the apology Tiger Woods issued in 2009 after numerous sex allegations with multiple women.  La Beouf then tweeted, “I was wrong, terribly wrong. I owe it to future generations to explain why.”  This time, the apology was taken directly from former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s memoir about the Vietnam War.

The very next day, LaBeouf once again issued another apology, which this time was taken from Shepherd Fairey’s 2009 apology to the Associated Press, according to The Wire.  That same afternoon, Dan Nadel reported on The Comics Journal that LaBeouf’s “About” page for his “Campaign Book” site took directly from his “About” page for his publishing company called PictureBox.

After his long string of plagiarisms, LaBeouf attempted to explain his behavior once again on Twitter in a post titled “Twitter as Art”, by saying that it was all an intentional piece of “performance art”.  “Performance art has been a way of appealing directly to a large public, as well as shocking audiences into reassessing their own notions of art and its relation to culture,”  he said in a note posted to Twitter, according to Aceshowbiz.com.  “My use of Twitter started a broad cultural discussion that needs to be had about plagiarism in the digital age & celebrity/social media absurdity.”

LaBeouf went on to explain how he had consequently become too wrapped up in his venture.  “The show began. I became completely absorbed, oblivious to things around me.”  The actor’s posts to Twitter have since been deleted.