Bam Margera's presence was missed by longtime fans in Jackass Forever. While the longtime franchise star was set to return in the fourth film in the series, he had been fired during production for failing to abide by strict wellness guidelines, including a requirement that he stay sober. The filmmakers say Margera violated this agreement, though he'd later file a lawsuit against them arguing that it was unjust. The suit has since been settled for an undisclosed amount.
In any case, it was unfortunate that Bam Margera couldn't have been more involved in Jackass Forever. In a new interview with Mike Tyson on Hotboxin', Steve-O shed some light on the situation from their point of view. He referred to a remark he had previously left for Margera on Instagram and holds true to those same feelings today, which is that his termination came from a place of love. Steve-O speaks from experience as someone whom those same people had helped with his own substance abuse issues.
"If I said it in a comment on Instagram, if I say it now, it's really how I feel. The way that Jackass treated Bam by making him take drug tests, by telling him that his contract required him to be sober for the movie... What it was was, that they loved him. They cared about him. And it's the same exact people who organized an interverntion which saved my life. These people, they f***ing put their foot down, they said, 'What's happening has to f**king stop, and we're going to do what we can to make it stop.' And for me that meant they pulled an intervention. They locked me up in my first psych ward... And this was all that they could do."
Steve-O further explains how it was very well known that Margera had been struggling in the years before Jackass Forever was greenlit. While the Jackass team wanted Margera to join the other returning franchise stars, what was most important was that he stay healthy. The hope was that the allure of returning in a theatrical film, along with the big payoff that would bring, would help Margera with staying clean.
"Bam had so many interventions. He was locked up in so many rehabs. By the time we were making this Jackass movie, Jackass 4, there was just nothing... You know, they thought, 'Maybe if we try this. You can be in the movie if you get healthy and stay sober.' It's the last f***ing thing they had to try. And with the promise of millions of dollars, and you're going to be in a movie, even still, he just didn't have the power to stay sober and be healthy. It was the first time ever that Bam had any consequences. It wasn't that they were trying to single him [out]. Everybody would've loved to have him for the movie. It'd be better for the movie. Everybody would've loved that."
Steve-O Says Bam's Health Was Most Important
Steve-O feels that there's no one who can truly help Margera more than Margera himself. That would include taking responsibility by admitting that his old friends from Jackass were just trying to help him.
"He has been [playing the victim card], absolutely. I want Bam to acknowledge that what they did by kicking him out of Jackass, it came from the same place from the same people who saved my life by putting their foot down and forcing me into a psych ward. Nobody wanted, everybody loves Bam and only wants him to be happy and healthy, and they put that in front of the movie. Fuck the movie. It's tough love, and that's all it was."
With the lawsuit settled, Margera can focus on moving forward. Margera recently announced that he had completed a one-year drug and alcohol treatment program, though fans were concerned when he had since left the Florida rehab center where he'd been staying and was later found at a hotel. Reportedly, Margera is not believed to have relapsed and left the facility while he was having an emotional episode following a recent split from his wife.