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The marketing machine is into fifth gear ahead of the release of Jackass Forever.

Johnny Knoxville even popped up on wrestling’s Royal Rumble this past weekend, although his stay in the ring was rather short-lived.

Jackass Forever will feature familiar faces such as Knoxville, Chris Pontius, Steve-O, Wee Man, Ehren McGhehey, Dave England, and Preston Lacy, as well as celebs like Machine Gun Kelly, Eric André, and Tyler, the Creator, among others.

The good news is that we are just days away from the February 4 release date. Friday, if calendars aren’t your strong point.

During his Jackass career, Steve-O has endured countless injuries. Some stand out, and he recently ran through his worst mishaps on his YouTube channel.

My highlight is a heavily sedated Steve-O battling the meds from the 3:30 mark:

I think the meds won that battle in the end.

There has also been much made of a falling out between Steve-O and Knoxville before and during the shooting of the film.

In a recent interview with Variety, Steve-O went into detail:

[He] revealed how he tried to negotiate for a better salary on “Jackass Forever,” the fourth film in the profitable series. As the talks dragged out, Steve-O — who hosts the popular podcast “Wild Ride! With Steve-O” — went public about not signing his contract, which led to a rift between him and Knoxville…

“I could have gone about it a lot more smoothly, and I didn’t. I blurted shit out during interviews that was counterproductive, so that’s what really pissed off Knoxville. We had a little rift, you know? My lawyer finally called me up and said, “Hey, take it, dude. This is going to get ugly.” It might have gone up the smallest fraction of a number. But it did not go up in any sense for me to call it a win.”

After admitting that he handled things poorly, Steve-O said he phoned Knoxville to clear the air:

“I gave Knoxville a call. I said, “Hey, I want to acknowledge the way I handled the whole contract situation — it was fucking bullshit, man.” I called to acknowledge it, and just put it out there that I was wrong and wanted to make it right. It was the most healing conversation that he and I had ever had. I felt emotional about it.”

Given what the duo has been through, and put each other through, it’s good to hear they’ve moved on from that.

I shudder to think of the back pain these guys must wake up with.

[source:variety]