Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner said they ‘put a stop’ to the sexual assault as soon as they were aware it was happening
Shia LaBeouf's artistic collaborators Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner have spoken out to confirm the Nymphomaniac actor's rape allegations. In an email interview with Dazed writer Aimee Cliff, LaBeouf said that the rape had occurred during his #IAMSORRY show last year.
"One woman who came with her boyfriend, who was outside the door when this happened, whipped my legs for ten minutes and then stripped my clothing and proceeded to rape me," he says. "There were hundreds of people in line when she walked out with dishevelled hair and smudged lipstick. It was no good, not just for me but her man as well.
During LaBeouf's six-day residency in a downtown LA gallery, guests lining up to meet LaBeouf were greeted with a table of random implements – including a whip, a bottle of Jack Daniel's and flowers – and indidividually entered a room in which the actor sat motionless, with a paper bag reading "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE" over his head.
Rönkkö and Turner were stationed outside the room. Over the weekend, both tweeted from their accounts to explain what happened during the incident:
A couple of important clarifications about our #IAMSORRY project earlier this year:
— Nastja Säde Rönkkö (@NastjaRonkko) November 30, 2014
Nowhere did we state that people could do whatever they wanted to Shia during #IAMSORRY.
— Nastja Säde Rönkkö (@NastjaRonkko) November 30, 2014
As soon as we were aware of the incident starting to occur, we put a stop to it and ensured that the woman left.
— Nastja Säde Rönkkö (@NastjaRonkko) November 30, 2014
Turner responded to Piers Morgan – who said that LaBeouf's "pathetic" rape claim was "invented for cheap PR" – when he questioned why the two artists had just let the perpetrator walk away.
@piersmorgan It wasn’t clear at the time precisely what had happened, & the 1st priority was to ensure everybody's safety in the gallery…1/2
— Luke Turner (@Luke_Turner) November 30, 2014
@piersmorgan She ran out, rather than simply walking away. Beyond that, it's not my place to comment. 2/2
— Luke Turner (@Luke_Turner) November 30, 2014
In the interview, LaBeouf added that the alleged assault was especially hurtful because his girlfriend was in the same queue and saw him in the gallery later that day.
"It was Valentine’s Day and I was living in the gallery for the duration of the event – we were separated for five days, no communication," he explained. "So it really hurt her as well, as I guess the news of it travelled through the line. When she came in she asked for an explanation, and I couldn’t speak, so we both sat with this unexplained trauma silently. It was painful."
Morgan isn't the only person to pour cold water on LaBeouf's rape claims. In an article published on Saturday, Medium writer Kelly Kend wrote that it was totally acceptable to find his allegations "annoying".
Aimee Cliff, who conducted the original interview, points out that you can think whatever you want about LaBeouf – but disbelieving a rape claim or finding it "annoying" or "pathetic" puts you squarely into asshole territory.
it is literally never "ok" to think this about anyone's rape claim pic.twitter.com/hRgyGH17z9
— Aimee Cliff (@aimeecliff) November 30, 2014