Steve-O, known for being calm and sensible, says Jackass Forever was “kind of a bummer”

The year is 2023 and Steve-O is officially one of the more sensible members of the Jackass crew. Yeah, we’re not sure what happened either… it was only a few years ago that he was getting arrested for climbing a big crane to protest SeaWorld after watching Blackfish (remember that he’s on your side, orcas), and now he’s feeling bad about the unnecessary risks that he and his friends have taken in the name of wacky stunts and pranks—not to mention acknowledging that this TV show was “legitimately a bad influence” on impressionable kids.

These new comments came up in an interview with NME, wherein Steve-O noted that he thinks 2022’s Jackass Forever—the hit revival of the series about some friends taking unnecessary risks in the name of wacky stunts and pranks—was “kind of a bummer.” Steve-O said it’s “not fun” to watch Johnny Knoxville “get hit in the head any more,” citing a stunt in the movie where Knoxville broke several bones and got a concussion after being hit by a bull (an injury that convinced Knoxville to take a step back from any future Jackass adventures).

Steve-O told NME that he sent everyone in the cast a text that day, publicly thanking Knoxville for his sacrifices and asking him to take it easier from now on, saying it was one of the “more serious and sincere messages” he’s ever sent. (It seems safe to assume that most of the messages Steve-O sends to people involve photos of his butt or his penis, so it’s probably not a close competition for his most serious or sincere one.)

But it’s not just the dangerousness of the stunts that Steve-O didn’t feel great about, he also had some concerns about the creativity of Jackass Forever. Specifically, he says he wishes the stunt he filmed with Machine Gun Kelly in Forever—which involved the two of them pedaling stationary bikes to retract a giant foam hand that knocked them into a pool—was at “a higher level,” since he and Machine Gun Kelly are “kindred spirits.”

Steve-O is currently embarking on his Bucket List Tour, where he screens footage that was too extreme to be included in his various other projects. So maybe he hasn’t totally changed.