Only part of the video plays before a message appears advising “The media could not be played,” but enough of it remains intact to give you the full flavor of this short morality play. The setting is the so-called women’s march on D.C. this past Saturday. I write “so-called” because, according to one source, the event was planned nearly a year ago as in-your-face victory lap to celebrate the presidency of Hillary Clinton.
As to what the reported millions who turned out on the mall were there remains unclear. As Ben Bowles noted on Saturday, one quasi-luminary at the event explained:
We march today for the moral core of this nation, against which our new president is waging a war. Our dignity, our character, our rights have all been under attack and a platform of hate and division assumed power yesterday. But the president is not America. … We are America and we are here to stay. [Emphasis added]
Keep that motivation in mind — especially the highlighted phrase above — as you watch the video, which stars actor Shia Labeouf barking in the face of a smaller man who is there to exercise his First Amendment rights.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Shia Labeouf melts down and gets physical with a counter-protester. This is now the second time he’s done this. pic.twitter.com/LJU7usDfj6
— Just Call Me Mister (@MisterMetokur) January 22, 2017
One would not be remiss to described LaBeouf ‘s behavior as militaristic. He is almost acting out Hollywood’s impression of a Marine drill sergeant shouting out staccato commands, punctuating each word.
As for the counter-protester, whose identity is not revealed in the video or in the tweet in which it is embedded, he may have grounds for a lawsuit against LaBeouf, who lays hands on him as he shares his message of “unity.”
