New Yorker Mario Licato says he was attacked by a random stranger due to his resemblance to the 'Transformers' star.
Apparently, some people have strong opinions about Shia LaBeouf -- enough to punch a stranger walking down the street who happens to look like the Transformers star.
At least, that's what Mario Licato claims happened to him Saturday evening while walking around New York City.
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Licato took to Instagram on Sunday to share a close-up photo of his black eye, scraped face and bandaged forehead, and wrote in the caption, "I wanna thank the guy who randomly decided he needed to hit me last night. 'this happened bc you look exactly like Shia labeouf'. Well sir you boosted my self esteem bc he's [pretty] hot."
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Licato spoke to The Gothamist on Tuesday where he detailed the events surrounding the alleged attack, saying that he was walking down a flight of stairs when someone punched him out of the blue.
Licato explained that he lost consciousness when he landed at the bottom of the stairs, and bystanders rushed to his aid. The attacker was apparently described to Licato as a man in his mid-20s, around 6 feet tall and muscular.
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"I was so confused," Licato explained. "I was even more confused because I got up and I was like, 'Am I crazy or did I hear him say, 'This is because you look like Shia LaBeouf?' And [the couple] were like, 'Nope. That's exactly what he said as he was running away from you.'"
Licato, who says he was attended to by EMTs on the scene and filed a police report regarding the incident, said it's not the first time someone has commented on his resemblance to LaBeouf.
"[I've heard it] so many times. That's why I knew I wasn't that crazy," he shared. "I've been stopped on the street before, at least 10 times in my life."
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In the life of the real LaBeouf, he recently sat down for an interview with Complex magazine to promote the film LoveTrue, which he produced, and decided to answer all of the interview questions in the form of haiku-like poems.
LaBeouf admitted in the unique exchange that he has "no ambitions at all to be a producer," but revealed that, if money was of not object and he could instantly get a film green lit, his three dream projects would be The Billy Milligan Story, Catcher in the Rye and Captain Planet.
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