Getty Image / Activision
It appeared Bam Margera had been excluded from the upcoming remake of a couple of early entries in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise despite appearing in the originals. However, the man who lends his name to the games reportedly went out of his way to make sure he made the cut.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 was released in 2001 shortly after Jackass was unleashed on an unsuspecting world it quickly took by storm, and Bam Margera—the most accomplished skateboarder in that crew of daredevils—was one of the 13 real-life skaters who were included as playable characters.
That marked the first of seven times Margera would appear in an installment of the long-running franchise (he and some other Jackass members played an integral role in the plot of Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, where he also appeared on the cover), but his name was nowhere to be found when Activision unveiled the list of skateboarders who’d be featured in the upcoming remake that’s been officially dubbed Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.
If you’ve been keeping tabs on Margera in recent years, you’ll probably understand why that wasn’t really a shocking development.
The man who was banned from the set of the fourth Jackass movie has had a well-documented battle with addiction issues that have spawned multiple stints in rehab and played a role in a number of incidents that have led to him spending time in jail.
He seems to be on the right track since his most recent setback last year, but it was hard to blame Activision for wanting to distance itself from his fairly toxic brand.
According to Video Games Chronicle, Margera will, in fact, be included in the remake that’s slated for release on July 11th courtesy of Tony Hawk himself based on what The Nine Club co-host Roger Bagley had to say on a recent episode of the podcast.
Bagley says he was informed the skateboarding legend personally intervened and threw his weight around after learning about Bam’s exclusion, saying:
“The game was already done. Tony called up Activision and was like ‘Hey, we’re putting Bam in the thing’ and they were like ‘Hey, we can’t’.
He goes ‘No, you’re gonna do it’ and basically made them fly Bam back out there to get body-scanned and everything else and get him back in the game.”
Activision has not confirmed Margera will be featured as of this writing, but it sure sounds like he’s going to be.