From crotch shots to queer icons: The unexpected LGBTQ+ legacy of Johnny Knoxville & Jackass

This past weekend, the gays were dancing in the streets at the West Hollywood Pride Parade, one of the largest Pride Month celebrations in the country.

As per usual, our community showed out with a star-studded march through the heart of the historic queer neighborhood, featuring floats from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, local queer heroes, ally companies, our favorite gay bars, and… wait a minute, was that Johnny Knoxville?

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Yep, amid the rousing celebration of the queer community, Knoxville and his Jackass crew were unmissable in the WeHo parade, flanked by Progress Pride flags, clacking fans, and a rainbow-fied version of their logo: the skull and crutches.

Since 2000, Jackass has represented a certain brand of unbridled male id: It’s largely cis, straight white guys subjecting one another to a series of pranks & stunts with a goal of pain, shame, and most of all puerile laughs. In other words, it’s stereotypical teen boy stuff.

So, what the hell were they doing at WeHo Pride, many openly wondered?

Well, for one, they were promoting a movie. Jackass: Best And Last—the group’s fifth and reportedly final feature film—is set to hit theaters on June 26, bringing the group back together for one last bout or pummeling, pratfalls, and poop jokes.

But this wasn’t just some cynical, thoughtless marketing move. Lewd and crude as they can be, the Jackass guys have always had a special connection to queer audiences, and they know it!

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For the past 25 years, the series has reveled in queer culture and homoeroticism, with stunts that often find performers like Knowxville, Steve-o, and Chris Pontius in the buff around (or sometimes on) each other while putting their own bodies in the line of fire.

For example, remember when the latter put his d*ck in a sock and allowed it to be puppeted to taunt a snake? Or that time Knoxville bathed nude in a barbecue pool then fed the meats to his pals? Or, hell, when queer icon John Waters appeared in their second movie for some man-on-man fun?

It was shocking stuff, though for many baby gays, seeing them so comfortable with their bodies and with each other, even in the most uncomfortable situations, was a total sexual awakening.

And while you wouldn’t be wrong to wonder if there was an undercurrent of classic straight bro “gay panic” making these stunts all the more shocking, the Jackass guys were careful to never make the LGBTQ+ community the butt—haha we said “butt”!—of the joke.

In fact, in an interview with Vanity Fair way back in 2010, they made it quite clear they’ve actually been pushing the gay agenda this whole time (not to mention, they basically predicted their presence in the WeHo Pride):

There’s a lot of half-naked men in Jackass, and a lot of anal play and nipple torture and testicle touching. Is it possible that Jackass is at least a smidge gay?

Knoxville: I’m offended you just said a smidge!

It’s more than a smidge?

Knoxville: We’re over here sitting on rainbows and you say a smidge.

You’re a gay pride parade waiting to happen?

Knoxville: We’re a gay pride parade that’s happening! And in 3-D!

It’s not just homoerotic tension?

Knoxville: No, man, it’s all about release with us.

Steve-O: We always thought it was funny to force a heterosexual MTV generation to deal with all of our thongs and homoerotic humor. In many ways, all our gay humor has been a humanitarian attack against homophobia. We’ve been trying to rid the world of homophobia for years, and I think gay people really dig it too.

Sixteen years later, while their fight against homophobia wages on, it’s clear they’ve made an impact: There’s an entire generation of queers who now cite Jackass as a formative viewing experience, many of whom went completely nuts when they saw Knoxville & Co. roll down Santa Monica Blvd. during Pride.

And it’s not just the gays who were tuning in for a peek at Steve-O’s barely blurred out private. In a 2022 piece for Them, writer Nadine Smith notes there are many trans-mascs who “saw a vision of themselves in the franchise’s alternative masculinity,” while in B*tch magazine, Niko Stratis reflected on how, as a trans woman, the series taught them about resilience:

“Jackass taught me that my worth was not in ‘being a man,’ nor in seeking to be strong in the classically masculine mind,” she wrote, “It’s not strength that matters, but fortitude and resilience and the ability to laugh in the presence of abject danger.”

Not to mention, when you really think about it, the Jackass guys weren’t just friends or co-workers, they were chosen family—one who’d gleefully tase one another’s nether-regions, but a chosen family nonetheless.

So, if you’re lucky as to see Jackass presence at your local Pride in the coming weeks, wave your rainbow flag high. Those allies have been taking hits to the groin for our community for decades now, and they’re welcome to party with us any time!

Jackass: Best And Last is in theaters everywhere on June 26.

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