Shia LaBeouf’s Anti-Trump Art Exhibit Shutdown For Public Safety

Actor Shia LaBeouf's art exhibit has been shut down by a museum in Queens after calling it a "serious and ongoing public safety hazard" after LaBeouf was arrested and his online art installation became a target of violent threats. The project called "He Will Not Divide Us" was launched by the "Transformers" star on the day President Donald Trump was inaugurated.

The exhibit is a collaboration between LaBeouf and artists Luke Turner and Nastja Sade Ronkko. The exhibit was a participatory one and was intended as a rebuke to President Trump. A video camera was mounted just outside of the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, and passers-by were invited to look into the camera and say the phrase "he will not divide us."

The controversial actor was arrested following a fracas at the site of the exhibit which was being monitored closely by police round the clock. He also criticized the museum's decision to shut down his exhibit. He posted an image of the live stream on his Twitter account with the caption "The museum has abandoned us."

The live-stream ran for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and LaBeouf and his partners were planning to maintain it throughout Trump's term as president. However, the actor was charged with assault and harassment in the early hours of January 26 after he had a run-in with a man who appeared on the live-stream, according to a report from the BBC. .

The New York Daily News reported that the site saw a number of white supremacists turn up, including one who was said to be wearing a Nazi hat. The museum released a statement on its website saying that the actor's exhibit "deteriorated markedly" following his arrest. It also added that there had already been "dozens of threats of violence and numerous arrests" and that the exhibit had become a "flashpoint for violence."