Donkey fans have been waiting a long time for Johnny Knoxville and the gang to reunite for stunt-filled pranks and shenanigans, and that day is almost here. Fooled forever finally hits theaters on Friday (and donkey 4.5 will follow soon after), but with days to go before the big arrival, some of the new film’s stars have found themselves in legal hot water. Steve-O, Chris Pontius and others have been sued over a stunt gone wrong.
As reported by TMZ, Michael Vicens-Segura, the man who filed the lawsuit through attorney John Phillips, says Steve-O and Chris Pontius approached him in 2018 to ask if they could using his jet skis for a project they were filming in Puerto Rico. . The prank specifically involved the men getting out on the water with jet skis pointing in opposite directions, then being tied together with a bungee cord to see who would be ripped off the rope first. A similar stunt was performed in Jackass: the movie with BMX vehicles.
In the lawsuit, Michael Vicens-Segura says he was asked to hold one of the jet skis steady in the water because there were problems with the waves that day. He complied, and from there, Vicens-Segura claims that when Steve-O and Chris Pontius applied the throttle, Steve-O’s bungee cord snapped off the harness attached to his back and hit Vicens. -Segura on the side of the head, leaving a huge gash. According to Vicens-Segura, he had to be taken to hospital for emergency surgery and was even placed in a medically induced coma because he had “a fractured skull and brain bleeds, among other things.”
As well as now bragging about the scars from the incident, Michael Vicens-Segura says the injuries caused him to lose the ability to work and “think straight”, while continuing to deal with “pain, suffering and agony”. So now he’s suing Steve-O, Chris Pontius and others involved in the incident and asking the court for more than $12 million in damages. As of this writing, no one from Steve-O’s or Pontius’ respective camps has released an official response to this lawsuit.
Naturally, we’ll be watching for any major developments in this lawsuit, including whether it ends up going to trial, is settled out of court, or is simply dropped. Needless to say, though, that’s not the kind of attention Steve-O and Chris Pontius would likely be hoping for by the time Fooled forever is about to open. The filing of the lawsuit is unlikely to reduce attendance for the film, but it does throw a bit of a wrench in the works nonetheless.
In addition to Steve-O (who wished one of the movie’s pranks had ended worse for him), Chris Pontius and Johnny Knoxville, Fooled foreverReturning faces also include Wee Man, Dave England, Danger Ehren and Preston Lacy, among others. Bam Margera was removed at the start of filming for the film, but we’ll obviously still see him for a bit in the finished product. Always will also include guest appearances from celebrities like Eric André (who was “so nervous” on set of the film), Tony Hawk, Machine Gun Kelly and Tyler, the Creator.
CinemaBlend’s Eric Eisenberg gave Fooled forever 4 out of 5 stars in its review, but you can judge the movie for yourself from this weekend. If you’re wondering what other movie entertainment awaits this year, browse our range of 2022 movie releases.
