Johnny Knoxville Breaks Silence on Jackass Fallout With Bam Margera: “I Love Bam”

Bam Margera did not participate in Jackass Forever earlier this year, following a reported falling out with the rest of the film’s cast and crew. Rumor has it Paramount Pictures decided that the star’s addiction issues made him a liability for production — especially a production that was so heavy on dangerous stunts. At first, he told fans that director Jeff Tremaine had fought to keep him on board in spite of studio resistance, but later, Margera would turn on his former collaborators, encouraging his fans to boycott the film altogether and put Tremaine, Johnny Knoxville, and producer Spike Jonze on blast.

Speaking with Variety about his new project Reboot, Knoxville said that while he has not heard from Margera since their creative relationship imploded, that isn’t his worry. He’s hoping that Margera is doing well.

“I haven’t spoken to Bam in about a year and a half, give or take six months,” Knoxville told the trade. “Jeff Tremaine, Steve-O and I had a face-to-face meeting with Bam and his wife, trying to figure out how to get him help. Then we had a Zoom as a group not long after that, and that was the last time I talked to him. It boils down to: I love Bam. I know that a lot has happened. I just want him to get well for himself and his family. I love the guy, and I want him to get well and stay well.”

Asked whether it’s possible Margera could find his way back into Jackass, the franchise that made both he and Knoxville into pop culture icons, Knoxville suggetsed that he is open to it, but did not commit to anything.

“I think that would be a discussion,” he said. “I only want him to get better. That’s the first step. He has to take that step and maintain that step, because everything else is just gravy. Jackass is not important when you’re talking about someone’s life.”

Margera admitted in early 2021 that he had broken his sobriety, which was the reason given for his release, as he had a clause in his contract with Paramount that demanded he stay sober. He would go on to claim that Paramount had been subjecting him to unreasonable scrutiny, including drug tests and mandatory antidepressants. Eventually this went to court a few times, with Tremaine filing a restraining order against Margera, and Margera filed charges against Paramount, MTV, Dickhouse Entertainment, Gorilla Flicks, and the producers personally, which ws settled in April with undisclosed terms.