Los Angeles – UPI
Actor Shia LaBeouf hired a fleet of planes to skywrite the words "stop creating" over Los Angeles on the same day he announced he was retiring from public life. The "Transformers" star took to Twitter Friday saying he was bowing out of the public eye after recent criticism he plagiarized his short film "HowardCantour.com" from a comic by Daniel Clowes, the Los Angeles Times reported. "In light of the recent attacks against my artistic integrity, I am retiring from all public life," he wrote, adding, "My love goes out to those who have supported me." He followed those tweets up with another that simply had the hashtag, "#stopcreating." Meanwhile, a representative from skywriting company Skytypers told TMZ LaBeouf paid $25,000 to have the words "stop creating" written in the sky 18 times over Los Angeles, in reference to the earlier hashtag. LaBeouf came under fire in December for allegedly lifting much of the narration for his short film from Clowes' 2007 comic "Justin M. Damiano." The actor initially issued a series of tweets apologizing for the indiscretion, but shortly before New Year's eve, he started tweeting less sincere apologies, the Times said. "You have my apologies for offending you for thinking I was being serious instead of accurately realizing I was mocking you," he tweeted. On New Year's Day LaBeouf hired skywriters to write the message "I am sorry Daniel Clowes."