Professional prankster Johnny Knoxville has taken his antics too far according to someone who says he fell victim to a "terrifying" prank orchestrated by the Jackass star. Following the release of Jackass Forever earlier this year, Knoxville has said he won't be taking part in any more dangerous stunts after suffering serious injuries during the filming of the sequel. But that doesn't mean he's done with the pranks, as these days, he's working on the upcoming comedy series The Prank Patrol for ABC. The series, which also features Eric Andre and Gabourey Sidibe, features the trio carrying out elaborate pranks and then breaking down how they were pulled off.
Per Variety, a new lawsuit has been filed in Long Beach Superior Court against Knoxville. Handyman Khalil Khan claims he took a job offer through TaskRabbit in October for what was supposed to be an ordinary repair job, but it was anything but. Khan says that upon his arrival, the homeowner threatened him with violence if he failed to do the job right, allegedly telling the handyman, "I know jiu-jitsu."
The suit alleges that a light went out soon after, at which point a child ran into the room and screamed at him, "You killed my pony!" Khan says he was then led to a room where it appeared that a pony was hooked up to a life support machine. Puzzled, Khan then noticed that his car outside was getting towed, and when he pulled out his phone to call the police, he was told that he'd be arrested for cocaine possession, flashing a bag of what looked like cocaine. Knoxville came out at this point and revealed that the whole fiasco has been an elaborate prank.
“In the span of just minutes, he had been threatened with being beaten up, told he botched the repair job, accused of murdering a pony, had his car taken without his permission, and was now being told that he would be arrested for possession of illicit narcotics," the suit summarizes.
Johnny Knoxville Isn't Finished With His Pranks
Johnny Knoxville has pulled off so many pranks that, should the details of the suit turn out to be accurate, it wouldn't seem out of the ordinary. It appears that the filmmakers figured that Khan would laugh off the prank like so many others before him, but that wasn't happening this time. Despite an offer of a "few hundred dollars" for the ordeal, Khan prefers to resolve the matter in court, arguing that he's owed much more than that due to the trauma he endured. He says that he suffers from lack of sleep, anxiety, and emotional distress. He is also seeking to block the release of the footage, suggesting that this would subject him to further "embarrassment and ridicule."
"Plaintiff was not amused, and remains unamused... He has been badly shaken and traumatized by this episode," the suit goes on to add.
Knoxville has not yet publicly addressed the lawsuit.