The Jackass franchise has been around for over two decades, with the motley crew of stunt professionals becoming household names in the process. That group recently reunited and returned to theaters with Jackass Forever, although skateboarder Bam Margera was noticeably absent. Recently Steve-O has gotten real about how Margera was dropped from the movie, and why he hopes Bam took it as a sign of love.
Leading up to Jackass Forever’s release back in May of this year, there was a ton of drama surrounding Bam Margera. The 42-year-old TV personality and stunt man took umbrage with being unceremoniously fired from the project, and sued Johnny Knoxville and the company as a result. Since the Margera has continued to have some public struggles, although Steve-O had a different perspective on his colleague being fired from the recent movie. As he put it while appearing on Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson,
I said this, it was just a comment on some Instagram post where Bam was lashing out at how he was excluded from the movie. If I said it in a comment on Instagram, if I say it now, it's really how I feel. The way that Jackass treated Bam by making him take drug tests, by telling him that his contract required him to be sober for the movie... What it was was, that they fucking loved him. They cared about him. And it's the same exact people who organized an intervention which saved my life.
Talk about a powerful point. Because while missing out on the money and screen time of Jackass Forever was no doubt painful for Bam Margera, his fellow castmate Steve-O seems to feel it was all done out of love. The Jackass cast is known for putting their bodies at risk for the wild stunts and pranks, so it might have truly been in Margera’s best interest to not be involved in anything other than sober.
As Steve-O pointed out to Mike Tyson on his podcast, those same people have also put their foot down and advocated for his own sobriety. The Jackass crew organized an intervention that helped Steve-O get sober and (as he put it) ultimately save his life. As such, he thinks the Bam Margera situation actually has much more love involved than folks might realize.
Steve-O’s own sobriety journey definitely puts the Bam Margera drama into a new perspective. Steve-O has been sober for over a decade now, and credits Jackass’ Johnny Knoxville for helping him get there. You can see hear and see his thoughts about Margera below,
While Bam Margera ultimately dropped his lawsuit over Jackass Forever, he’s continued to make headlines in the months since the movie was released. This includes legal issues with his wife, as well as for starting a fitness journey. Most recently he went missing after leaving a rehabilitation center, although he was eventually found and brought back to the court-ordered treatment. Hopefully, he’s able to get the help he needs, as Steve-O was able to do years back.
Jackass Forever is streaming on Paramount+. Be sure to check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
