'Jackass' star Steve-O arrested after an epic stunt including a 100-foot crane and an inflatable whale in protest of SeaWorld
"Jackass" star Steve-O, whose real name is Stephen Glover, was arrested Sunday after climbing a 100-foot crane in Hollywood to display a blow-up whale with the writing: "SeaWorld Sucks."
Steve-O teased the stunt on Saturday on Instagram, writing: "This is Shammy. We're gonna do a big dangerous stunt tomorrow in Los Angeles that will probably get me in a lot of trouble, and you can watch it happen at 7pm PST via a live stream on my Facebook page. #SeeYouAt7pmTomorrow #yeahdude"
A photo posted by Steve-O (@officiallysteveo) on Aug 8, 2015 at 5:24pm PDT on Aug 8, 2015 at 5:24pm PDT
Steve-O, 41, documented the entire process with short videos on Facebook while wearing a "Blackfish" T-shirt, promoting the anti-SeaWorld documentary.
First, he explained how the stunt was going to work and the required tools in his "stunt pack":
He updated fans via Facebook with photos as he climbed the crane:
Then things got a little scary:
"We definitely have their attention" Steve-O says from the top of the crane while pointing to police cars below:
As the sun set on Steve-O, tons of fire trucks surrounded the crane. "That is a lot, a lot of [expletive] firetrucks," he says in the below video, which he captioned: "Anyone wanna bail me out of jail?"
"More than 80 firemen were called to the scene after receiving calls about a possible suicide attempt," reports the New York Daily News. "Crews began preparing an air cushion rescue as increasingly more fire trucks appeared."
This was the last video Steve-O posted to his Facebook page. After climbing back down the crane about an hour after he climbed up, the MTV star was taken into police custody around 9 p.m.
LAPD Lt. Michael Ling confirmed to the LA Times that Steve-O was "arrested and is expected to be booked on suspicion of trespassing, setting a firework without a permit, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Investigators are still determining what charges apply."
According to the LA Times, this isn't the first time Steve-O has publicly spoken out about SeaWorld's alleged treatment of their animals:
Last year, he was charged with a traffic infraction for an anti-SeaWorld stunt in which he defaced a freeway sign in San Diego. He posted a YouTube video in August 2014 showing him climbing up the freeway sign to attach the word "sucks'' after the words "Sea World."
(YouTube.com/steveo)
Steve-O's latest stunt comes just days after SeaWorld announced it has witnessed a major decline in attendance and 84% drop in profits during its most recent quarter, largely in part due to the 2013 release of the "Blackfish" documentary.
According to the SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. Report as reported by The Wrap:
The theme park suffered an 84 percent drop in its net second-quarter income; after a $37.4 million haul in 2014, the park was only able to net $5.8 million in 2015. Total revenues for the quarter fell from $405.2 million in 2014 to $391.6 million, marking a 3 percent drop year over year.
The report also shows that Q2 attendance dropped by 100,000 visitors from 6.58 million in 2014 to 6.48 million.
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