Whatever the brand means in 2021, and whether or not I’ve moved on to more refined entertainment options (I actually haven’t) aside, I’d be lying to you guys if I said I didn’t grow up watching Jackass. Like many a teenager in the early 2000s, I thought it was the pinnacle of comedy, but it was also something I could relate to. Me and the boys just doing some downright dumb shit to make ourselves laugh, even if we were the only ones that thought it was funny. Of course, despite MTV’s efforts to everyone watching to NOT try it at home…..we tried it at home. Now, we never had the resources to pull off something grandiose and dangerous…but we still had our own little bootleg version. In a way, I think Jackass was one of those phenomena that shaped me as a content creator. There are definitely little drops of Jackass across SoBros Network today.
That’s why, even though the shine of the brand has worn off quite a bit for me at 34 years old, I’m still in on Jackass 4, the gang getting back together for another film in the franchise to be released later this year. But, I had no idea that Bam Margera was having such a rough go of it lately until the news started popping up earlier in the year that he was at odds with Johnny Knoxville, Jeff Tremaine, and Paramount. It was always hard to pin these guys down because of how wild they are – we knew they lived that rock star lifestyle with reckless abandon. All these years later, to read some of the stuff that’s come out about Margera’s addiction (more details in the Complex story linked below), and realize that that recklessness is still going on, is super sad. As it turns out, the gang has a provision in their contract to stay clean throughout the filming of Jackass 4, Margera breached it, and was kicked out. In response, Margera accused his “family” of “betraying him.” Steve-O, who has become a good redemption story in his own right since he cleaned his life up, weighed in with a comment that expresses the real pain in this whole situation, trying to help someone who might not necessarily realize they need it.
Fellow stuntman Steve-O responded to Bam’s allegations in the form of a comment, sharing that both Knoxville and Tremaine previously saved his life.
“The two people you’re saying wronged you (Knoxville and Tremaine) are the same two people who organized the intervention which saved my life. Everyone bent over backwards to get you in the movie, and all you had to do was not get loaded. You’ve continued to get loaded, it’s that simple. We all love you every bit as much as we all say we do, but nobody who really loves you can enable you or encourage you to stay sick.”
Man, reading that response – that’s some heavy, heart-breaking stuff. But, if you’re recovering from whatever substance you’ve abused, you just can’t be around someone who’s still in it. It sounds like Margera is worlds apart from the rest of the cast. Margera has since acknowledged that he’s getting the help he needs. Hopefully, his “family” will be able to come together and pull him out of whatever he’s going through. You hate to see this happening with your childhood heroes, whatever that says about me that the Jackass crew members are some of my childhood heroes.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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