Actor/stuntman “Steve-O,” best known for the “Jackass” television and movie franchise, bailed out of jail Monday, and was unapologetic about his attention-grabbing climb up a construction crane in Hollywood as part of a protest of SeaWorld.
Stephen Gilchrist Glover, 41, was arrested Sunday night after he entered a secured construction site, climbed a crane, set off a firework and dropped an inflatable Shamu toy before climbing down, police said. Glover live-streamed the entire stunt online.
Crews responded around 8 p.m. Sunday to the site at 6094 W. Selma Ave. on a report of a possible jumper.
That jumper, however, turned out to be Glover, who alerted his Twitter followers and Facebook fans the previous day about his plans to carry out a public stunt in opposition to SeaWorld’s treatment of killer whales and other sea life.
Police blasted the stunt, calling it a massive waste of officers’ and firefighters’ time. Responding fire crews deployed air cushions beneath the crane, unsure if the man planned to jump.
As he walked out of jail in Hollywood this morning, Glover stood by his actions.
“For God’s sake, get a pair of binoculars,” he said. “I used binoculars to make sure that the hatch was open. … (With binoculars), you’d be able to recognize, ‘Hey, that’s Steve-O filming himself with an inflatable killer whale after he had posted that he was gonna do that to millions and millions.”
Glover made headlines last year when he defaced a freeway exit sign in San Diego to make it read “SeaWorld Sucks.”
That same message was written on the inflatable killer whale he dropped from the crane Sunday night.
“It goes without saying I did it to put my foot down for Shamu,” Glover said of his latest stunt.
He was booked on suspicion of trespassing and freed on $5,000 bail. He was given a tentative court date of Aug. 31.
— City News Service