Iconic Jackass star Steve-O had admitted that the show might just have been a bad influence on kids.
Shocker.
From putting an entire colony of bees on his junk, going swimming next to sharks with a hook in his mouth, and ending up in hospital after walking on a treadmill with full college band equipment, it’s safe to say Steve-O has done some pretty outrageous stuff on the show.
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In an era where there was no YouTube, it’s hard to argue that the Jackass crew wouldn’t have been impressionable on a whole generation of jackasses.
But Steve-O has finally agreed that they might have influenced kids to be a bit silly in their backyards.
Steve-O appeared on Mike Tyson’s podcast Hotboxin’ and said: “I think in the beginning of Jackass 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.”
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He added: “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 s**t and they wanted to do it themselves.”
“So, little kids everywhere got video cameras and started f*****g themselves up and showing up in hospitals and getting really hurt.”
The Jackass series debuted in 2000 on MTV at the height of the network’s power and followed the likes of Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, and Steve-O as they did some pretty wack stunts and pranks.
When it was first broadcast, the show featured disclaimers not only before and after the episode but also after each commercial break.
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However, after complaints from Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, MTV decided to pull any airing of the show before 10 pm and refused to show repeats.
The cancellations didn’t deter the Jackass crew, who went on to create a highly successful film series and multiple spin-offs.
But according to Steve-O, the Jackass guys deserved the complaints they received.
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On the podcast, he added: “At that time you could really point to us as being a bad influence.
“But I think over the years, because now that there's so much YouTube, Ridiculousness, so much, it's not our f*****g fault anymore.”
Steve-O and his pals returned for the fourth Jackass film that dropped on Paramount in February, earlier this year.
According to Variety, a new series is in the works following the success of the recent movie Jackass Forever.
Featured Image Credit: Sipa US / Alamy. Photo 12 / Alamy.Topics: Jackass, Steve-O, Mike Tyson