Steve-O Says It’s ‘Not Fun’ Seeing Johnny Knoxville Getting Hit in the Head Anymore

Steve-O is sending mixed messages. On the one hand, he’s bummed about what’s become of fellow idiot Johnny Knoxville, who suffered brain damage after being flipped by a bull while filming last year’s Jackass Forever. “It’s not fun to watch Knoxville get hit in the head any more,” he told New Music Express. “I wrote this text to the whole cast that day, thanking Knoxville for the sacrifices he’s made for this team, and also begging that he stops with the brain trauma. It was one of my more serious and sincere messages.”

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And yet, Steve-O is not exactly a “practice what you preach” kind of guy. He’s about to launch “The Bucket List Tour” in the U.K., a live show that’s “like attending a screening of footage that was too extreme for Jackass, which I personally host and walk you through, with all of the behind-the-scenes, juicy, fucked-up shit,” he says. “It’s hilarious.” 

Too extreme for Jackass? That’s the same show that now airs on Paramount+ with new pre-credit warnings: “This program is airing in its original form with outdated social norms.” (The original show had “don’t try this at home” warnings as well, which didn’t stop scores of kids from ending up in the hospital.) Steve-O, of course, hates the new “outdated social norms” disclaimers: “Wow! God, people are so fucking puss-ified!” 

And he doesn’t think Jackass is outdated at all. In fact, he thinks it’s downright wholesome. “I think Jackass ages pretty well,” he argues. “For all the terrible shit that we do to ourselves and each other, we’re such willing participants. We’re just attention whores battling for screen time, and we want the terrible shit to be happening to us so badly that there’s nothing wrong with enjoying seeing it happen. None of the pranks are malicious or mean-spirited.”

Malicious or not, sometimes people do end up with, you know, brain damage. But to Steve-O, risking life and limb for a laugh is a mission from God. “Life has the meaning that you give it: Whatever it is you choose to make your life meaningful, fuckin’ go after it with enthusiasm,” he contends. “If you break the word ‘enthusiasm’ down to the root language you have ‘en-theos’, which means ‘with God.’ When you’re pursuing something you’re deeply passionate about, you are, by definition, doing God’s work. For me, shoving shit up my ass is God’s work.”