Shia LaBeouf Plagiarised Manchester United Legend Eric Cantona During Berlin Festival Fiasco

Shia LaBeouf has committed plagiarism again, but this time it looks as though he knew exactly what he was doing as it was just so blatant.

Not only did LaBeouf attend the premiere for Nymphomaniac wearing a brown paper bag on his head that read, “I am not famous anymore,” but he also walked out of a press conference for Lars Von Trier’s two part drama after uttering gibberish about “seagulls” and “trawlers” to the waiting reporters.

LaBeouf stated, “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much.”

However, this gibberish had previously been infamously uttered by Manchester United legend, Eric Cantona, during his own press conference in 1995.

You can check out footage of LaBeouf’s comments below:

Meanwhile, you can watch Cantona’s original version of the same remarks here:

LaBeouf clearly meant to pay homage to the French soccer legend though because he even took a gulp of water at the exact same moment that Cantona did, 19 years earlier.

The incident occurred just 10 minutes into the press conference, and it came after the 27-year-old was asked his first question. LaBeouf’s co-stars, Christian Slater, Stacy Martin, Stellan Skarsgard, Uma Thurman and producer Louis Vesth, couldn’t help but emanate with bemused laughter after the Transformers actor’s bemused actions.

However, English soccer fans instantly noticed that LaBeouf’s iteration was eerily reminiscent.

Cantona made these remarks in February 1995, after he had been banned from the game for 8 months for performing a kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace supporter who had verbally assaulted him.

After being sent-off at Selhust Park for kicking out at defender Richard Shaw, Cantona was heading towards the tunnel when Palace supporter, Matthew Simmons, gesticulated and shouting abuse at the Frenchman. Cantona was also arrested and convicted for assault because of his kick, and he was later sentenced to 120 hours of community service.

Eric Cantona is one of the most iconic soccer players to ever star in the English Premier League. After arriving at Old Trafford in November 1992 from Leeds United, he inspired Manchester United to four out of the next five titles, before spectacularly retiring from the game in 1997.

Meanwhile, Shia LaBeouf’s bizarre antics continue to provoke much debate. After admitting that he plagiarised Daniel Clowes’ comic book, Justin M Damiano, for his short film, Howard Cantour, he then copied his apology from a Yahoo answers page, before he insisted that he wasn’t famous anymore by repeatedly tweeting:

I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE

— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) February 9, 2014

Unfortunately for Shia, it doesn’t look as though he has much say in the matter.

[Image via Joe Seer/Shutterstock