(TMX) – “Jackass” star Steve-O confirmed this week he is going to undergo breast augmentation for a laugh.
During an appearance on the “X5 Podcast” on Wednesday, the 50-year-old prankster said he’s been thinking about getting a pair of fake breasts for years.
“I came up with the idea a few years ago to get a boob job and just film a bunch of legitimately funny hidden camera pranks with me in disguise, in various disguises, and then revealing who I actually am, and just funny endurance stunts and whatever,” he said.
“I’ve been so particularly in love with that idea because the comedy, the opportunity for comedy, I believe is absolutely there, and it’s like the quintessential Steve-O — that level of commitment,” he said.
The augmentation will only be temporary, however. Steve-O said he would only have them for “max two months” before having them removed again.
“I spoke with the doctors, and I said to them candidly, ‘The one thing I’m really freaked out about and bummed out about and would back out of this over is if I’m just gonna be a mess afterwards,’” Steve-O said.
He confirmed he plans to get D-cup-size implants.
“You know, it’s going under the muscle, and the doctors are completely unfazed, like, ‘Two months, it comes out, absolutely no issue,’” he said.
Despite doing it all for a laugh, Steve-O said he is working with “the absolute best [doctor] in the world at giving men gorgeous boobs
I’m all for harmless pranks, and Jackass is a funny show. I’m also 100% supportive of people who want to change their bodies or how they identify from a gender perspective. Steve-O apparently cleaned himself up and he’s living sober now which is awesome. That being said, this whole breast augmentation surgery thing is just weird.
There are a lot of individuals who would love to get the surgery he’s getting for shits and giggles, but the cost of it is too prohibitive or they can’t find a doctor to do it for them for whatever reason. I hope this stunt doesn’t further stigmatize people who are transitioning or cause it to be more difficult for them to receive care.
I guess I also don’t see how having massive fake tits surgically implanted on a cisgender man is more funny than having a more realistic pair of latex breasts made and put on through makeup. Maybe I’m just getting old.
As far as I’m aware (and I’m not aware very far, to be fair) I think Steve-o has a rather progressive bent since getting clean. Every interview I’ve seen of him (which again, is a few but not many) seems to indicate that he’s open minded and generally very positive.
To your first point. Complaining about a rich celebrity spending a fraction of their paycheck on an elective surgery is a bit naive. It’s one guy getting the surgery, and complaining about him getting breast augmentation and not the thousands of female celebrities who get it needlessly every year not to mention every other celebrity that gets all the other vain cosmetic surgeries every year kind of betrays why this is note worthy.
I think it’s legitimate to be concerned about stigmatizing this sort of surgery, but back to my first point: if Steve-o really is progressive this would be an excellent opportunity to DE-stigmatize the surgery and the process by showing that it’s not some magical fairy surgery that turns a man into a woman and someone’s idea of gender should have nothing to do with whether someone has breasts or not when a man who is famous for having the straightest whitest dude-est show on earth is getting breast implants as a stunt.
Hell, if he started a drag persona or something off of this surgery I guarantee there would be thousands of queer fans in support of it.
As for why he’s doing it, well, the responses should say it all. If he wore fake silicone breasts people would give it an eye roll and it wouldn’t get an article. Even your own comment shows that him electing to go through surgery is a notably different concept.
A DISCLAIMER: I’m kind of playing the devil’s advocate here, as I mentioned I have only seen a bit of content around this guy I’m not a fan by any means. I’ve never even seen a Jackass movie or any commercial content he’s created, I’ve just got the vibe from him on a few of the shows I have seen that he’s progressive.
Edit: shit, I didn’t read the article all the way. He’s doing it to do funny crossdressing pranks, so that’s pretty cringe.
Yeah, he’s doing it for a very stupid reason, which is why I’m concerned. I’m glad you read the whole article. This seems like it has potential to be very cruel, intentionally or not.
Crossdressing is a whole thing that’s of course totally fine. Consider the guys from Monty Python. They cross dressed all the time but weren’t specifically doing it out of malice or the intent to be denigrating to women. There’s a way to crossdress and still be funny without being a dick.
Also, Steve-O may be progressive to some extent, I really don’t know his politics. That’s not really what I’m concerned about. It’s more that his antics may give conservative or small minded idiots cause to associate all transitioning individuals with him. They’d lead another chorus of “all trans people are pervs who watch you in public bathroom” because he does something like popping out of a public bathroom stall covered in fudge and begging strangers for TP.
Yeah, that was part of my hope. That again, afaik, the guy has a super redneck regressive audience of idiots that clap to people getting hit in the balls but he himself is not that conservative so it would be cool if he used his influence with that normally impenetrable audience to try and give them an example they’ll pay attention to of gender being a social construct rather than something physical.
I’m just huffing copium at this point but it would be cool.
I would not be surprised if this was a “ha ha it’s just a prank, bro” that leads to him coming out as transgender. I can’t say I know a lot of transgender people, but of the two that I know in a professional work environment, that first step was always “I’m wearing these clothes and this wig as a joke” to test the waters and get over anxiety before coming out totally. Of course, they don’t have Jackass money.
Maybe it’s just as a joke, but maybe not.