Meaning behind ex-Jackass star Bam Margera's multiple face tattoos
Bam Margera is back in the news once again due to the release of the newest Jackass film, returning to the series for the first time since he was fired from Jackass: Forever for a ‘wellness violation’.
Bam did not film any new stunts with the Jackass crew for the film, however, something that he will probably be even more pleased about when he sees some of the disgusting things they filmed for the movie.
Instead, the skater, who ran a crew with Ryan Dunn which filmed Jackass style videos that actually predated the series, appeared via archival footage.
If you only watch him via Jackass however you might be surprised to see more recent pictures of him where he has a pretty prominent face tattoo in Arabic, and unless you’re an Arabic-speaking Jackass fan, you probably don’t know what it means.
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In addition to this he has a pretty iconic face tattoo which is often misunderstood, and a huge mix of meaningful tattoos he got for specific reasons and random ones he got for fun.
He has a ‘Heartagram’ tattoo which people often think is Bam’s symbol, but predates his tattoo
The ‘Heartagram’ is a pentagram where a heart replaces one of the triangles, something Bam got tattooed on his cheek over two decades ago.
The tattoo is an iconic one which many thought was created by Bam, partially because he used it as part of his branding as a skateboarder in the early 2000s.
It was created by Ville Valo, the frontman of HIM, a Finnish rock band which credited their worldwide fame at various points to Margera and Kat Von D, who also had a heartagram tattoo.
Explaining the meaning behind the tattoo, Valo said it represents ‘balance’, saying the symbol is ‘this combination of heart and pentagram, the soft and the hard, the male and the female, the yin and the yang – which, for me, is important .’
Margera sometimes takes credit for popularising the symbol, which he also has tattooed on his stomach.
Margera’s Arabic tattoo was in part inspired by his custody battle over his son, and he has a number of neck tattoos
Margera’s tattoo is in Arabic and means ‘Phoenix’, and is a tribute to his son Phoenix Wolf Margera.
The timing of the tattoo in 2023 came in the midst of a custody battle over Phoenix, and he posted a photo on Instagram claiming it was partially aimed at his ex-wife Nikki Boyd, Phoenix’s mother.
He said in the post: “I miss Phoenix the wolf so much I had to to get his name tattooed on my f*ckin face to remind Nikki she is breaking my heart by not letting me see him.”
Another of his tattoos, on his upper neck, is a reference to Britney Spears’ high profile conservatorship. He had tattooed: “Britney Spears <3 Oops they did it to me too!”
In a video posted to Instagram he said: “So if you haven't known, I've been through the ringer with the longest Florida shuffle, which means if the interventionist knows you have insurance money they'll find reasons to keep you there forever.
“So Britney Spears, oops, they did it to me, too. Britney, I'm on your level, I feel your f*cking pain."
Other tattoos include the words “Dr Phil”, the words ‘Great News’ in Farsi on his wrist, the words “I’m not here to f*ck spiders mate” with a picture of a penis and a spider, and another penis tattooed near his ankle.
His other most prominent tattoo is the letters to ‘Bookworm’ tattooed on his knuckles, something he said he did because it was ‘unexpected’. Bam also has a quite prominent tattoo in Farsi on his chin which reportedly says: "Unchallenged wisdom is poison."
Topics: Bam Margera, Jackass, Celebrity, TV and Film
Michael Slavin