A Brooklyn man who was randomly punched at a Manhattan subway station by an attacker who told him it was "because you look exactly like Shia LaBeouf" received a message of sympathy and an offer of soup from the actor, according to reports.
Mario Licato said that he had just gotten off a subway train Saturday afternoon at the Delancey Street-Essex Street subway station on the Lower East Side when he was clocked.
"I didn’t even see the guy," he told Gothamist. "I just see his fist coming toward me. It knocked me, and while I was falling down the stairs, all I hear was, 'This is because you look exactly like Shia LaBeouf!'"
Licato, who told Gothamist he has been approached "at least 10 times" by people who said he resembles the actor, tumbled down the stairs and lost consciousness. He said a couple rushed to help him and called 911.
The next day, he received a call from the real LaBeouf on his work phone, Licato told Cosmopolitan.
He didn't notice the message until LaBeouf commented on one of his Instagram posts: "Hey, I left you a voicemail."
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"This is Shia LaBeouf, the guy you got hit for looking like," the voicemail allegedly said.
In the message, LaBeouf "sounded bummed and genuinely really bad," Licato told Cosmopolitan, saying the actor apologized profusely. LaBeouf also allegedly said he wished he were in New York so he could bring him soup and "giggle over this."
He gave Licato his phone number and signed off with, "Keep your head up, G," the magazine reports.
Licato told Cosmopolitan the voicemail was about two minutes long and that he has listened to it about five times.
Although Licato hasn’t called LaBeouf yet, he told the magazine he will soon, likely over a glass of wine. He said he plans to ask why the guy who punched him hates LaBeouf so much.
"What did you do to some random bro in New York that he needed to punch me for it? Did you steal his girlfriend? Maybe he just really hated you sitting in the movie theater for three days straight watching your own movies?" he said.
The man who punched Licato has not been found.