While carrying out his latest performance art on Friday in Oxford University, actor Shia LaBeouf slapped a fan inside an elevator. The actor, however, will probably not face any assault charges since he was only fulfilling the fan's request.
The incident occurred last week in one of the elevators of England's prestigious university when LaBeouf was invited by the school's student union to give a talk last weekend. But, aside from addressing the university's students and faculty members, the movie star decided to also hold a 24-hour performance art, the New York Times reported.
The first half of his performance, dubbed as #Elevate, was held inside an elevator 12 hours before his talk. He then carried out the second half of his art in the same venue after addressing the school. The entire performance was then shown live online through YouTube.
According to LaBeouf, the purpose of the piece was to alleviate his anxiety about talking to the members of the high-profile university. Also, it gave the people of the school the chance to mingle with the star and share the limelight with him.
Standing in one corner of the elevator, the actor welcomed students inside and chatted with them for the duration of their elevator trip. He also gave out pizza slices and talked about almost everything from his favorite movies to his bid for the 2016 presidential elections.
Although the piece was already bizarre in itself, the 24-hour elevator session with LaBeouf became even weirder when a male student asked the actor to punch him in the face. According to the student, who also claims to be a performance artist, a punch from LaBeouf would help him complete his piece, according to People.
The star hesitated at first since he didn't want to punch the student. But, through negotiations, the actor finally agreed to give his fellow artist a slap on the face.
The student then told Cherwell, the school's newspaper, that he persistently asked LaBeouf to strike him because he thought the actor might be bored.
