When it comes to stunts on Jackass, many people believe that there is nothing that would have stopped one of their crazy, often dangerous, usually stupid stunts from being carried out. However, it seems that one particular stunt was canceled thanks to star Steve-O’s chance encounter with a transgender supermarket cashier on the day before he was set to undergo breast implant surgery in the name of comedy.
Speaking recently to Consequence of Sound, Steve-O revealed that everything was in place and planned to go ahead with the dubious procedure, but “a sign from the universe” gave the star reason to back out after speaking to the cashier. He said:
“On the day the scheduled surgery was supposed to happen, I was checking out at the supermarket, and the person ringing up my groceries was evidently transgender, and it struck me as a sign from the universe. So I asked the transgender person if I could run something by them, and I had a conversation with this person that had a profound impact on me. I didn’t really have any dedicated meetings or conversations with trans people because I didn’t really feel that I had to.”
Just having that one conversation changed his mind completely, even though he went on note that while testing out the material, several trans people did support the stunt for its comedic potential and had not seen it as being in any way malicious or hurtful. He added:
“I knew what my motivation was, I knew what my intention was, and it wasn’t to be hurtful to anybody. I was just trying to get laughs. I had done a bunch of workshop shows to test out material, and I had a number of trans people come to me after the shows to voice support for [the stunt]. And I think some people would’ve been okay with it, and some people wouldn’t have. It would’ve been a mixed bag.”
Steve-O’s Original Plans for His Enhanced Performance
While the breast implant surgery would have just been one part of the stunt, what exactly was Steve-O planning to do once he had his new features? The star was happy to share the crazy things he was going to do in order to get laughs – and possibly a punch in the face – for the series.
“I would ride a pink Vespa around at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally completely in disguise, where nobody could tell who I was, and the plan I had was to film with hidden cameras as I rode up to big gangs of motorcycle riders, who would presumably be checking me out. And I would walk up to pull off my helmet and say, ‘Yeah, dude,’ and get this crazy reaction, which, predictably, would be contentious.”
Following the cancelation of the plans, Steve-O revealed that he did have one regret about the whole thing not going ahead – simply that he had shouted his mouth off about it so much in advance.
“It was difficult for me. Looking back on it, I’m extremely grateful that it didn’t happen. I’m really glad that I didn’t go through with it. But that didn’t make it any easier, because I was so vocal about my plans to do that, and I’ve never been the kind of artist to say I was going to do something and then not do it. That was what I had trouble with, was not honoring my word.”
Jackass
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