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Shia LaBeouf claims woman ‘raped’ him during performance art project

Shia LaBeouf, pictured in February 2014. Andreas Rentz / Getty Images

This article has been updated since it was first posted on Nov. 28, 2014.

TORONTO — Actor Shia LaBeouf claims he was sexually assaulted during a performance art project at a Los Angeles gallery last February.

For #IAMSORRY, the 28-year-old actor wore a paper bag on his head and sat silently for five days while having one-on-one interactions with members of the public.

LaBeouf told Dazed one woman “whipped my legs for 10 minutes and then stripped my clothing and proceeded to rape me.”

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The actor said the experience was “no good” because both her boyfriend and LaBeouf’s girlfriend were waiting outside.

British artist Luke Turner, who was involved in the project, tweeted Sunday: “Nowhere did we state that people could do whatever they wanted to Shia during #IAMSORRY.

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“As soon as we were aware of the incident starting to occur, we put a stop to it and ensured that the woman left.”

Responding to criticism that police should have been called if LaBeouf was sexually assaulted, Turner tweeted: “It wasn’t clear at the time precisely what had happened, & the 1st priority was to ensure everybody’s safety in the gallery. She ran out, rather than simply walking away.

“Beyond that, it’s not my place to comment.”

LaBeouf told Dazed most of the interactions he had were positive.

“Some would hold my hand and cry with me, some would tell me to ‘figure it out’ or to ‘be a man’. I’ve never experienced love like that; empathy, humanity,” he said.

The Fury star said some people just wanted a photo.

“Some folks would come in, take my bag off, pop off a selfie and bounce,” he recalled. “That felt terrible.”

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