NEW YORK (UPI) -- A New York man who was punched in the face by a stranger at a train station said his assailant told him the attack was because he looks "exactly like Shia LaBeouf."

Marco Licato, 26, said he was walking up the stairs at the Essex and Delancey F train station after 8 p.m. Saturday when he was suddenly attacked by the stranger.

"I literally just saw a fist for a split second," Licato told the New York Daily News.

"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 told Gothamist.

"I was so confused. 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 [witnesses] were like, 'Nope. That's exactly what he said as he was running away from you.'

Licato, who filed a police report about the attack, said it wasn't the first time he's been accused of resembling the controversial actor and performance artist.

"I've gotten it so many times. I can see it," he said. Some of my friends say yes. Some of my friends say no.

Licato said he has a question for his attacker, if police are able to identify him.

"I wanna know what Shia LaBeouf did to him," Licato said. What did Shia LaBeouf do to him that he punched somebody that looks like him? He must have did something so mean. Did he steal his girlfriend? Did he just see his last performance art piece?

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