Bam Margera blasts Roger Ebert for turning Ryan Dunns death into a teachable moment

Yesterday we heard that Ryan Dunn of Jackass passed away after he suffered a fatal accident in the Porsche 911 he was driving, killing himself and a 30 year-old Jackass production assistant Zachary Hartwell. He had tweeted a photo of himself drinking that night before the accident and he looked blitzed out of his mind. A source from the bar told TMZ that Ryan had had three beers and three shots in the four hours he was there before leaving at 2:10 am, closing time. That doesn’t sound excessive for a man of his size but we have no way of verifying that. As of yet the cause of the accident is unknown, although police say “speed” was a factor, and given the state of the wreckage we may never know. It’s entirely possible that he swerved to avoid something or that his tire blew out, but circumstantial evidence suggests he was drunk.

Movie critic Roger Ebert recently tweeted something that a lot of people have been saying about this guy’s death, that “friends don’t let Jackasses drive drunk.” It’s harsh, but many people have that sentiment about this accident. (TMZ live recently covered a lot of those comments. One person wrote that she was surprised that this is the first time one of the Jackass guys has died. They do incredibly dangerous stunts for a living, after all.) In response, Dunn’s friend Bam Margera went off on Ebert, which is understandable.

Is there ever a time to say to someone who is hurt, or to say about someone who died, that they should not have been drinking and driving? Yes, definitely. I don’t want to get too personal, but a friend of recently mine got in an accident while he was drinking and I called him on it. He was injured so I waited a little to bring it up. I was so angry that he made that stupid decision and I had to say something to him about it. I did it because I love him, but some may think I was being insensitive and he bitched that I was the only one who told him I was angry that he was drinking when it happened. Still, I get why Dunn’s friends are upset at Ebert’s comments. There’s a way to be tactful in situations like this where someone has died. Ebert was dismissive and seemed to suggest that someone could have prevented that guy’s death. Surely that’s what his friends are beating themselves up over right now.

Update: Ebert has issued a response to this controversy on his blog, explaining his position. It’s very well written and backed up by examples in the press that support what he was trying to say, simply that the kid should not have driven drunk. Ebert’s Facebook page has been removed by Facebook for a terms of service violation after it was flagged. That’s ridiculous and seems completely arbitrary and unfair.

Photo credit: WENN and Fame

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