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Jackass star Bam Margera handed 6 months probation after fight with brother

Margera pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on Wednesday over an altercation at his home near Philadelphia

Tom Murray
Wednesday 26 June 2024 18:00 EDT
Jackass star Bam Margera opens up about his 'mental breakdown'

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Former Jackass star Bam Margera will spend six months on probation after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct Wednesday in connection with a family altercation last year at his home near Philadelphia.

Margera, 44, had been charged with assaulting his brother and making threats to other family members during what the brother called a “frightening and unpredictable” two-week visit home last year.

The plea ends a long legal case that spun out of his stay at the Chester County home known as Castle Bam. At a hearing last year, Margera told the judge he was getting drug and alcohol treatment.

Jess Margera, at the same court hearing, called his brother “a good dude when he’s not messed up” but said he had exhibited troubling behavior for two decades and, while home, had been awake for days. Jess Margera suffered a ruptured eardrum in the altercation, while Margera’s girlfriend called police when he kicked in her bedroom door, the brother testified.

Defense lawyer William J Brennan said Margera pleaded guilty to two summary offenses, and is now clean, sober and productive a year after the arrest.

“You can really say he won his case before today just by turning his life around,” Brennan said Wednesday.

Bam Margera has been open about his struggle with drug addiction in the past
Bam Margera has been open about his struggle with drug addiction in the past (The Associated Press)

The former professional skateboarder and stunt performer rose to prominence in the Noughties after appearing on the popular MTV reality stunt show Jackass and its subsequent sequels.

After the show ended its three-season run in 2001, MTV offered Margera his own series Viva La Bam, which ran from 2003 to 2005, and followed Margera and his crew as they completed various stunts and missions.

In 2021, Margera filed (and ultimately dropped) a lawsuit against Jackass co-star Johnny Knoxville, which prompted a public falling out.

Knoxville later admitted that he and Margera hadn’t spoken in over a year since the latter sued him, director Spike Jonze, Paramount Pictures, MTV and more for wrongful termination from the franchise’s latest 2022 film Jackass Forever.

Margera, who had been public about his struggle with drug addiction, claimed that he was wrongfully terminated after a drug test detected prescription Adderall in his system.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press

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