Steve-O has canceled his plans to get a boob job for a comedic bit.
The “Jackass” alum, 50, explained to Consequence Thursday that after a delay in his surgery and chance conversation with a transgender person about the “oppression” they face, he changed his mind.
As part of Steve-O’s stunt, he would remove his tattoos, shave his body and flaunt his fake breasts to trick men at motorcycle rally. After flirting with them, he would remove his helmet and reveal his true gender.
The comedian said the transgender person with whom he spoke was the cashier at a grocery store he went to the day of the surgery.
The person said they did not have a problem with the breast augmentation because it was “the ultimate statement of body autonomy, me saying my body, my choice.”
However, the unnamed individual took issue with the part of the bit in which Steve-O would “deliberately” trick people into thinking that he was a woman and “then fooling them.”
The “Jackass: The Movie” star said the stunt would be perceived as him celebrating the “idea of hate towards [trans people],” adding, “That was a [bad] thing.”
The cashier also opened up to Steve-O about the many hardships trans people face every day.
“[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,” he recalled.
“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 further added, “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.
“Especially the pranks. Like, I would’ve considered it to be better footage if I was to be beaten up at the motorcycle rally.”
Steve-O recognized that his previous mentality was “flawed” because “ultimately it would be an exercise in celebrating violence against trans people.”
The stunt performer admitted he did not initially go out of his way to speak to a transgender person when testing the bit on audiences because he “didn’t really feel that” it was necessary.
“I had done a bunch of workshop shows to test out material, and I had a number of trans people come to me after the shows to voice support for [the stunt],” he said.
“And I think some people would’ve been okay with it, and some people wouldn’t have. It would’ve been a mixed bag.”
Steve-O also noted he knew his intention with the prank “wasn’t to be hurtful to anybody.”
The “Wildboyz” alum received concerned responses from fans after he revealed his eyebrow-raising plan on the “X5 Podcast” in July.
He said at the time he was “in love” with the idea because of “the opportunity for comedy.”
“Body modification has been part of my f–king deal, it’s been a lane in my art since the beginning,” Steve-O explained at the time. “And this level of commitment to this bit, how nuts it is — I believe in it.”