Steve-O Explains His Intense Fear Filming Jackass' Bull Scenes
The team behind MTV's "Jackass" and its subsequent film franchise have made a career out of performing dangerous and hilarious stunts for the audience's amusement, most of which come with an enormous risk of injury for all parties involved. One recurring stunt throughout the franchise involves pitting a member of the "Jackass" team (usually frontman Johnny Knoxville) against a live bull, either coaxing it to attack them or else trying to avoid it in some of the most idiotic ways imaginable.
As entertaining as it might be to watch the "Jackass" crew dodge a raging bull using nothing more than a seesaw, fan-favorite stuntman Steve-O says he experiences intense fear whenever they're shooting with bulls on set due to an experience he had while filming "Wildboyz" in Mexico. "We watched this kid, probably a teenager, and he just got so savagely mauled by a bull in front of us," Steve-O explained during an episode of "Steve-O's Wild Ride!" "We didn't receive confirmation one way or the other of what the outcome was, but in our view we witnessed somebody get killed by a bull."
Steve-O went on to say that the experience made him swear off any bull-related stunts in the future and that you can actually see him become visibly uncomfortable whenever bulls are featured in a "Jackass" stunt. Knowing what he witnessed in Mexico, it makes sense that Steve-O has an aversion to bull-related stunts, especially now that a bull was responsible for one of the most gruesome injuries in "Jackass" history.
Johnny Knoxville nearly died during a bull-related stunt in Jackass: Forever
Despite Steve-O's fears, these bull stunts have become an iconic part of "Jackass" and are featured in nearly every single "Jackass" film to date: with the most recent coming in "Jackass: Forever" and nearly costing Johnny Knoxville his life. Steve-O himself prefaces the scene with an ominous warning, reiterating that he will never get in the bull ring and criticizing the decision to even use one in this film.
The scene starts out harmlessly enough, with Knoxville dressed as a magician and trying to avoid the bull as it rampages around the ring. However, things go awry when the bull finally charges Knoxville, flipping him twice through the air to land on his head. The stunt left Knoxville with brain hemorrhaging and a concussion alongside a broken wrist and rib, making it one of the most severe injuries in all of "Jackass."
The injury was so brutal that it took Knoxville three months to regain his cognitive skills and return to form, at which point he decided to sit out on all remaining stunts for the rest of the film. Considering Steve-O's traumatic experience in Mexico alongside this harrowing injury, it seems like somewhat of a miracle that "Jackass" has incorporated so many bull scenes with only a few notable injuries. In any case, one has to think they'll be rethinking these sorts of stunts in any future "Jackass" projects, knowing now the danger they pose to everybody involved.