Steve-O Thinks ‘Jackass’ Deserved Blame For Child Injuries During Show’s Early Days

Steve-O and the ‘Jackass’ crew have received a lot of criticism over the years. Many believe their brand of dangerous thrill-seeking rubs off on children. For at least part of the series’ run, Steve-O completely agrees.

During an interview on ‘Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson,’ Steve-O discussed the show’s early days. He said that the show deserved to be vilified because of its content. With no YouTube and limited internet at the time, there was nobody else to point the finger at.

“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.

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.“

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Steve-O believes the advent of streaming video and shows like ‘Ridiculousness’ have taken some of the heat off of Jackass. He said whatever happens in the current media environment cant be blamed on the show or the movies. Now that there are so many potentially influential videos at every kid’s fingertips, times have changed.

Jackass was the only game in town as far as mainstream dangerous videos when it first started. Steve-O recognizes the influence they had on kids. A lot of people got hurt by ignoring those ‘Don’t try this at home,’ warnings.

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