Following reports of his return to the Jackass franchise, Bam Margera has clarified that the new movie will only feature archival footage of him.
When asked about co-creators Jeff Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville, the veteran skater said his “feelings toward them are still ‘f*ck you’” after going through “two years of hell” just to be fired from 2022’s Jackass Forever.
“I’m just too hurt by it, and I already accepted the fact that I don’t want anything to do with it anymore,” he told TMZ. “And only time will tell, but right now at this time, I don’t wanna do anything.”
Margera added, “I was very angry, and now I’m not angry, I’m just hurt. And as of now, I don’t even want to think about reuniting with anybody.”
The Viva La Bam star recalled “spending my own money at an alarming rate for therapists, doctors and treatment, all this, only to sit me down and tell me, You’re not in the movie and you’re not getting $5 million.”
Johnny Knoxville and Bam Margera in ‘Jackass: The Movie’ (2002)
Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
“I watch Dateline, and people kill other people for a whole lot less,” added Margera. “So, I have a lot of PTSD from it all. And just having the title now of ‘ex-Jackass star Bam Margera’, I have to live with that. The humiliation, the abandonment and just embarrassment of it all, I had to let it go.”
Despite the strong words, Margera noted that he will appear in the upcoming film that is set to release this summer, via footage filmed for Jackass Forever.
“But they did ask me—they said, ‘We’re gonna sift through a lot of old footage to try to create something new.’ And I said, ‘Hell yeah, go for it.’ Because I remember filming so much funny sh*t that never made it into the movie, simply because it probably would be too long or it’s just too gnarly. So, I said, ‘Have at it.’ As far as I know, I don’t have to film anything new, and I don’t want to.”
When asked if he will ever return to stunt performance, Margera said he is now focused on his family and “very happy skateboarding again.”
After appearing on Jackass for its initial run from 2000 to 2001, Margera continued to serve as a key part of the ensemble in multiple films and TV specials that spun off from the MTV stunt show, including a brief appearance in Jackass Forever.
In 2022, Margera asked a judge to dismiss his wrongful termination suit against Paramount Pictures, following his allegations that the studio coerced him into signing a contract while he was in a rehabilitation facility, before requiring him to complete multiple daily drug tests and take a cocktail of drugs prescribed by Paramount’s medical team “that left him physically and mentally drained, depressed, and a shell of his former self.”
It’s unclear if a settlement was reached between Margera and Paramount. In addition to Knoxville, the lawsuit also named MTV, Jeffrey Tremaine, Spike Jonze, Dickhouse Entertainment and Gorilla Flicks, among others.