He’ll take the wrap for the early years, but these days, Steve-O no longer takes fault because the internet is thriving.
While they were in the thick of trying out dangerous stunts for laughs and fame, the Jackass crew fought against people who complained that they were acting irresponsibly. Jackass first premiered on MTV 22 years ago and quickly, the group of friends became fan favorites. Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Bam Margera, and others on their team raised hell on the series, but they turned things up a notch when the television show became a film franchise.
Soon, worldwide fans were testing out these Jackass antics and landing themselves in the hospital. Recently, Steve-O caught up with Mike Tyson for the champion boxer’s Hotboxin’ podcast and admitted that all of the Jackass criticism was much-deserved.
“We were genuinely worth vilifying because back then they didn’t have YouTube or video on the internet and we were legitimately a bad influence,” he said. “When Jackass came out, little kids were showing up in hospitals all over the country and maybe the world because they saw us doing this crazy sh*t and they wanted to do it themselves.”
“At that time, you could really point to us as being a bad influence,” he said. “But I think over the years, because now that there’s so much YouTube, [MTVs], so much [stuff], it’s not our f*cking fault anymore.”
