Shia Labeouf found himself facing a bit of a backlash over the weekend after the trailer for David Ayers' The Tax Collector launched. Shia takes on the role of Creeper who's a crime boss collecting taxes from other criminal organizations in the Los Angeles area. Many quickly noticed that Shia, who is the only white character in the film, is possibly taking on a form of "brownface" by being a white guy playing a Latino.
"@DavidAyerMovies Hey, really important question that I think you should answer publicly in 2020. Is Shia Lebouf playing a Latino character in Tax Collector? If so, why didn't you cast a Latin actor?" A user on Twitter asked.
"Really important answer - Shia is playing a whiteboy who grew up in the hood. This is a Jewish dude playing a white character. Also the only white dude in the movie," Ayer said in response. He elaborated further as a "whiteboy" who "grew up hood."
"Chicano culture is inclusive - I’ve seen whiteys, Asians, Blacks, Filipinos all putting in work for the hood. It’s part of street culture," he continued before adding that he's representing "LA Hood shit" with his latest film. He later clarified that it's not necessarily Chicano culture rather than LA street culture.
In a later tweet, he made it abundantly clear that Shia is not doing Brownface in this film. Check out his response below.