Steve-O changed his mind about getting temporary breast implants after talking to a transgender person.
The “Jackass” alum, 50, explained in an interview with Consequence on Thursday that he was going to get a boob job for hidden camera pranks on his upcoming Super Dummy Tour, where he’d trick groups of men on the street into thinking he was a woman.
However, those plans were squashed after he had a chance encounter with a transgender stranger at the grocery store.
“On the day that the scheduled surgery was supposed to happen, I was checking out at the supermarket. And the person ringing up my groceries was evidently transgender, and it struck me as a sign from the universe,” he said.
“So I asked the transgender person if I could run something by them,” Steve-O continued, “and I had a conversation with this person that had a profound impact on me.”
Steve-O said that his “motivation” for the planned sketches were not “to be hurtful to anybody,” though he acknowledged that the response from people probably “would’ve been a mixed bag.”
“I didn’t really have any dedicated meetings or conversations with trans people, because I didn’t really feel that I had to,” he explained. “But I just feel like the universe put this encounter before me, and ultimately I decided that the universe had intervened.”
Steve-O explained his plans to the trans person, who in turn told the famous comedian about the “oppression” they’ve faced.
“[They] described how they weren’t allowed to use the bathroom at their place of work, that there were like maybe 28 states in the country that would arrest them for having an ID that said female on it. That there were politicians making concerted efforts to lock them up in internment camps. It was really pretty heartbreaking, the level of oppression that was described,” Steve-O said.
“Framed like that, I thought about it in a way that I hadn’t before, where you know, wow, maybe it’s not all fun and games,” he added. “Especially the pranks. Like, I would’ve considered it to be better footage if I was to be beaten up at the motorcycle rally. And just having that mentality was very flawed, because ultimately it would be an exercise in celebrating violence against trans people. At least, it would be interpreted that way by some, and when it was put to me that way, I thought, wow, maybe I missed the mark on that one.”
Steve-O said that he doesn’t regret backing out of the surgery, but he does regret publicly announcing his plans for the stunt.
“It was difficult for me,” he said. “Looking back on it, I’m extremely grateful that it didn’t happen. I’m really glad that I didn’t go through with it. But that didn’t make it any easier, because I was so vocal about my plans to do that, and I’ve never been the kind of artist to say I was going to do something and then not do it. That was what I had trouble with, was not honoring my word.”
Steve-O added, “I think it’s a very valuable trait to be able to admit when you’ve got things wrong.”
The “Jackass Forever” star told everyone he was getting breast implants on the “X5 Podcast” in July.
He said at the time he was “so particularly in love” with the idea “because the opportunity for comedy I believe is absolutely there.”
“It’s like the quintessential Steve-O — that level of commitment,” he added.