Steve-O is no stranger to outrageous stunts. The celebrity has built his entire brand on them, whether it be with Jackass or his hour-long comedy specials. It seems like his latest stunt did not go over well with London police, however. Steve-O was taken into custody on Thursday, after he jumped off the Tower Bridge into the River Thames.
According to TMZ, Steve-O was filming content for his latest special, and the footage leading up to the jump shows him counting down with fans. The celebrity can also be seen wearing clothes featuring the Union Jack and carrying an umbrella. “I just got out of a cop car,” Steve-O revealed on his Instagram Threads. “They gave me a real talking to for my ‘Mary Poppins jump’ off the Tower of London Bridge.”
Steve-O was detained by London police for most of the day, but he had no ill feelings toward them after his release. The police were concerned that the stunt would encourage others to make suicidal leaps from the bridge, which is a topic that Steve-O has been clear about discouraging in the past.
“When Jackass came out, little kids were showing up in hospitals all over the country and maybe the world because they saw us doing this crazy s*** and they wanted to do it themselves,” he said on the Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson podcast. “At that time you could really point to us as being a bad influence.”
Steve-O, born Stephen Glover, has been a little more cautious about his influence in recent years. Still, that hasn’t stopped him putting his own life on the line for entertainment. In addition to his Tower Bridge stunt, Steve-O jumped off of a double-decker bus, which he admitted was much more painful. There’s no confirmed release date or title for the comedy special in which these stunts will appear.
It’s a miracle that Steve-O is still able to do a lot of these things. He did a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) in May, during which he admitted that the punishment he’s put his body through has finally caught up with him. “My body is f***ing falling apart,” he wrote. “It hurts to swing a golf club. I’m legitimately nervous about even being able to throw the first pitch at the Padres game, because my shoulder is such a disaster.”
While the celebrity is still fit enough to make his own specials, he’s sheepish about returning for another Jackass film. Jackass Forever opened to surprising box office success and critical acclaim in 2022, but the general consensus among the classic lineup was that it was time to pass the mantle to younger stunt people. “If we did continue, we would lean on the younger cast more,” Johnny Knoxville told Variety. “The old guys would take a little step back but still be a part of it.”
Regardless of what Steve-O does next, we hope he stays healthy and out of handcuffs!