Steve-O Says ‘Jackass’ Was a Bad Influence on Kids in the 2000s
Jackass is now 22 years removed from its start on MTV, and during a recent chat on the Hotboxing With Mike Tyson podcast (seen below), popular stunt artist Steve-O revealed that he really does feel that the series that served as his initial claim to fame was "legitimately a bad influence" on the children of that era.
"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," Steve-O tells Tyson.
"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 shit and they wanted to do it themselves. So little kids everywhere got video cameras and started fucking themselves up and showing up in hospitals and getting really hurt," he continued.
To his point, it was a very different world in 2000 than what viewers can see today in a social media-driven world.
"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 fucking fault anymore," claims the stunt artist.
The initial show ran for three seasons on MTV, eventually spawning a film franchise that most recently included Jackass Forever and Jackass 4.5 earlier this year. Plus, it was revealed in May that a new Jackass series is in the works for Paramount +. As one of the most popular personalities in the Jackass universe, Steve-O has appeared in all but two of the Jackass-branded projects.