The ongoing saga between Bam Margera and the rest of the Jackass crew, specifically Johnny Knoxville, has reared up once again with the release of Jackass: Best and Last on the 2026 movie schedule. Margera, arguably the second biggest star in the whole cast of the original show, has been estranged from Knoxville and director Jeff Tremaine for years now. The fallout really escalated in 2022 with the production of Jackass: Forever, and now Knoxville has spoken out about Margera’s lack of participation in the latest release. Here’s what he had to say about it.
Bam Was Invited, But He Said No
Bam Margera’s personal problems have been well documented over the years. And according to the producers of Jackass: Forever, they were the reason he was fired from the production five years ago. Margera has a different take on the firing, claiming they didn’t live up to their end of the deal when he agreed to go to rehab as a condition of appearing in the movie. Margera and Knoxville have been on the outs ever since.
That means he also didn’t appear in any new footage for the latest movie, which is a combination of “best of” bits, outtakes, and some new stunts and has been somewhat warmly received by fans and critics. Margera does appear in one outtake filmed in 2020. That wasn’t really a surprise to anyone who has followed the drama for all these years, but until recently, Knoxville has been somewhat mum on the decision not to include Margera again.
When Knoxville was finally asked in an Esquire interview why Margera is only seen in the movie in old footage, he gave a pretty straightforward answer. According to Johnny, Bam turned down the offer to appear. Here’s what he said:
He was invited to be in Jackass: Best and Last, but he’s not there yet. So he declined, and I love him. I respect his decision. We all wanted him in it, but that’s fine. He didn’t want to be. We’re good.
Margera sees things differently, of course. He has also been asked recently about not appearing in the movie. It has everything to do with Knoxville and Tremaine, according to Margera. Speaking to Rolling Stone earlier this month, he said that while he was planning on seeing Jackass: Best and Last, he said a reunion was out of the question. He told the magazine:
I don’t have any bad blood with the cast of Jackass. It’s just the decisions that Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine decided to make. I never want to see them ever again in my life. Enough is enough.
Those decisions, according to Margera, led to a lawsuit after Jackass: Forever, which was settled shortly after the movie was released in 2022. The legal drama has been over for some time, but it seems the lingering wounds still haven’t healed for Margera. For his part, Knoxville is seemingly taking the high road, though it doesn’t seem like the two are going to squash their beef anytime soon.