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Showing posts with label apology. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

LaBeouf offers cloudy plagiarism apology

NEW: Editor: Actor's action was "egregiously shameless"LaBeouf admitted last month he borrowed Daniel Clowes' story for his short filmApology tweets include words "embarrassed," "regret," "terribly wrong," "deeply sorry"Shia LaBeouf plagiarism apology tweets appear plagiarized

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Shia LaBeouf's plagiarism apology tour took to the sky Wednesday as the "Transformer" actor hired an airplane to sky-write "I'm sorry Daniel Clowes."

Clowes is the author whose story LaBeouf admits he copied for his short film "HowardCantour.com" without crediting Clowes.

But it was a cloudy apology, raising suspicion that LaBeouf has moved on from saying he's sorry to Clowes and is now taunting Clowes fans and LaBeouf critics who have attacked him online in the two weeks since he was busted.

The creativity shown by LaBeouf in more than two dozen Twitter postings of apology raises the question of why such a fertile mind needed to borrow ideas.

The apology tweets started clearly enough on December 16: "Im embarrassed that I failed to credit @danielclowes for his original graphic novella Justin M. Damiano, which served as my inspiration. I was truly moved by his piece of work & I knew that it would make a poignant & relevant short. I apologize to all who assumed I wrote it."

Transforming apologies

But three days later, it appeared LaBeouf was frustrated that the online attacks against him continued. Sarcasm emerged in his tweets: "I want to thank all of you who have written in and created groups and protested. Even though I wish I hadn't made so many of you angry."

Even here, LaBeouf plagiarizes -- maybe as a hidden treat for those obsessed with nailing him for plagiarism. It mirrors Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's landmark apology in 2006 for a failure in his then-fledgling social network: "Even though I wish I hadn't made so many of you angry, I am glad we got to hear you."

Sincere-sounding apologies continued for another week, including this on December 28: "When you've made a mistake you should apologise. But more importantly -- most important of all -- you've got to learn from your mistakes."

This was a cut-and-paste ripoff of UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's 2012 apology for his party's breaking a pledge not to support a student tuition fee hike. It even included the British spelling of apologize.

By December 31, LaBeouf was mocking those who refused to accept that he was sorry for copying from Clowes: "I am sorry for all the plagiarized tweets, they all were unintelligent, ambiguous and needlessly hurtful. You have my apologies for offending you for thinking I was being serious instead of accurately realizing I was mocking you."

LaBeouf borrowed the phrase "unintelligent, ambiguous and needlessly hurtful" directly from a 2011 apology by film director Lars von Trier after he was banned from the Cannes Film Festival for remarks about Adolf Hitler.

On New Year's Day, LaBeouf went old school and used a predecessor to the 140-character Twitter forum. He hired a single-engine airplane to write through the blue skies of Los Angeles: "I AM SORRY DANIEL CLOWES."

He then tweeted a photo of the airborne apology, because it was unlikely the author, who lives in San Francisco, would have seen it for the short time it was visible before the words were gone with the wind.

The text that accompanied the tweet posted Wednesday night read:

CLOUD:

- vapor floating in the atmosphere

- remote servers used to SHARE DATA

- to make LESS CLEAR or TRANSPARENT

If LaBeouf is considering a sequel to his short but controversial film about an online film critic, perhaps he already has a script for a movie about an actor who finds his voice on Twitter.

Not everyone's laughing

For Clowes' editor, the plot of LaBeouf's film sounded awfully familiar, even before he saw it.

"I presumed that LaBeouf would be smart enough to change everything just enough to make it his own thing and shield himself from any legal liability, even if it didn't excuse him from being a weasel. Which is why, when I actually started watching it, I almost spit out my coffee when I realized he lifted the script, word for word," said Eric Reynolds, associate publisher at Fantagraphics, in a statement.

"The more I think about this, the more I'm fairly convinced that LaBeouf at least subconsciously knew what he was doing," Reynolds continued. "He never completely claims ownership of the script, as near as I can tell; the credits conspicuously do NOT credit a screenwriter or source material, stating simply, 'A Film by Shia LaBeouf.' When you look at that, coupled with the quote he gave 'Short Film of the Week' about how details in his own life informed the script, it's clear he's trying to claim authorship without ever stating outright, 'I wrote this!' Which makes it even more egregiously shameless, in my mind."

And even if Clowes accepts the flurry of apologies, another publisher is considering legal action against LaBeouf.

Melville House publisher Dennis Johnson sent a statement to CNN on Thursday accusing LaBeouf of "extensive plagiarism of the Melville House book 'The Little Girl and the Cigarette' by Benoit Duteurtre."

LaBeouf's short graphic novel "Stale N Mate" allegedly mirrors passages from the book.

"We are puzzled by the fact that, considering the egregious plagiarism of our author's work by Mr. Laboeuf, he has taken such a cavalier attitude with regard to this matter," Johnson said. "We have been conferring with legal counsel over the holidays with the intention to pursue our legal remedies should we not hear from Mr. Laboeuf promptly to remedy this matter."

CNN's Sean Redlitz and Steve Forrest contributed to this report.

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Saturday, July 14, 2012

Mitt Romney wants an apology

Mitt Romney disputed reports that he worked for Bain Capital longer than he had publicly suggested, insisting Friday he had no role "whatsoever" in managing the company after February 1999 when he left to run the Winter Olympics. Public filings from the company suggest otherwise.

In consecutive interviews with all five television news networks, Romney accused President Barack Obama and his campaign of attacking him on his record at Bain Capital in order to "deflect attention" from Obama's "failed" economic record. And he called on Obama to apologize for the false attacks.

"There is absolutely no evidence that I had any role whatsoever in the management of Bain Capital after February 1999," Romney told ABC News' Jon Karl. "Why the president continues and his people continue to make these kinds of charges and try to turn this into something big is clear, I think, to the American people because the president's failed to do the job he was elected to do which was to get this economy turned around."

Asked by Karl about an Obama campaign aide's assertion that he may have committed a "felony" by leaving his name on Securities and Exchange Commission documents if he didn't work at Bain, Romney called the charge "ridiculous and disturbing" and "beneath the dignity of the president and his campaign."

"The president needs to take control of his people," Romney said, calling the attacks "false and misleading."

On Thursday, the Boston Globe reported that Romney's name remained on several documents Bain had filed with the SEC, including a 2002 filing that described him as the firm's "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president."

Asked why his name remained on documents if he wasn't involved in the company, Romney told ABC that he had "retained ownership" until he and Bain officials could negotiate a departure and retirement package with the company. He told CBS News' Jan Crawford he had the "capacity" to return to Bain if he wanted after the Olympics but chose not to. He told Crawford he didn't "recall even coming back once" for Bain management meetings because he was running the Olympics "full time."

Asked by CNN's Jim Acosta about Democratic pressure for him to release additional tax returns and financial information about his investments overseas, Romney insisted he had "complied with the law" by filing federal financial disclosures and by releasing his 2010 tax returns. He said he would release his full 2011 returns when they are complete and suggested he wouldn't release more.

"That's all that's necessary for people to understand something about my finances," Romney told CNN.

Romney's round of interviews came after days of withering attacks from the Obama campaign on the presumptive Republican nominee's business record and personal finances. For days, the Romney campaign declined to engage the offensive, instead keeping its focus on Obama's handling of jobs and the economy.

But amid criticism from Republicans that Romney was endangering his campaign by ignoring the Obama attacks, the GOP seemed to shift course, releasing a series of TV ads trashing Obama for lying about Romney's record.

On Friday, the campaign scheduled a last-minute round of interviews with Romney in New Hampshire, where the candidate is set to spend this weekend off the campaign trail. In the interviews, Romney tried to shift the attention back to Obama's negative campaigning.

Asked if he believes he's being "swift-boated" by Democrats—a reference to independent attacks on John Kerry during the 2004 campaign—Romney told CNN he "hadn't heard that term." He told Acosta that Obama appears to be employing the "Kill Romney" strategy "they promised," referring to a phrase first floated by Democratic strategists in a Politico story last year.

In nearly all of the interviews, Romney mentioned the phone call he received in May from Obama once he clinched the nomination, telling reporters that Obama had told him he wanted to engage in an "important debate" about the state of the country and said he had "agreed" with the president. He told Fox News' Carl Cameron he found Obama's attacks "very disappointing" and "politics a lot worse than usual."

"(Americans) expected more from this president. He was the one that talked about a post-partisan presidency, changing the way politics works, changing the way Washington works. And I think people assumed he would make it better," Romney said. "But instead, with the kinds of attacks that he's been launching over the last several weeks, he's been making it worse and people recognize that."

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Friday, April 6, 2012

Washington boy, 9, writes apology to girl he shot

Letter of apology to Amina Bowman, 8. Image: Kitsap County Court

A 9-year-old boy in Bremerton, Wash. wrote a letter apologizing to a classmate who was seriously wounded after a gun discharged from his backpack, lodging a bullet in her spine.

The handwritten letter was addressed to Amina Bowman, 8, who was released from the hospital on Tuesday. The boy's name has not been made public.

"I'm sorry I hurt you because I brought a gun to school. I did not mean for any one to get hurt," the boy wrote. "I wish everyone was okay. I made a bad choice."

Six weeks after being airlifted to Harborview Medical Center, small milestones mark Amina's recovery.

A taste of soup, those first steps, and a brownie milk shake after being discharged from the hospital are all progress that her mother posts on her Facebook page.

"What a great day!!!" Teri Bowman wrote under a picture of her smiling daughter before she came home from the hospital.

On Feb. 22. Amina was shot during class at Armin Jahr Elementary School in Bremerton.

"I made a bad choice. I was sad, scared and afraid and I did not solve my problem well," the boy told her in his letter. "I will stay away from guns."

The school was put into immediate lockdown after the incident.

MaryLou Tucker, a parent of a student at the school, said the teacher in Amina's classroom did everything she could. "She had the kids sit, get underneath their desks and then made sure that the kids were accounted for," Tucker said.

The boy's prosecution will be deferred. His mother, Jamie Lee Chaffin, and her boyfriend, Douglas L. Bauer, pleaded not guilty to third-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to ABC affiliate KOMO.

Amina's parents said she'll likely return to school in the fall.