Steve-O declines Bill Maher's podcast over host's pot smoking: 'That's a deal breaker’

“There’s nothing more that I protect than my recovery,” said the “Jackass” star, who has been sober for nearly 16 years.

Jackass alum Steve-O says he declined to appear on an episode of Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast because the host refused to abandon smoking pot during the recording.

On a recent episode of Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast, he spoke to guest Patrick Bet-David about his appearance on Maher’s show. After asking Bet-David if he is bothered by others smoking around him, Steve-O explained that Maher’s insistence on smoking marijuana forced him to turn down an interview.

“For me, I’m a clean and sober guy. It’s very important that I maintain my sobriety,” Steve-O said. “It’s approaching 16 years. I am about to be sweet 16. Really, there’s nothing that I value more than my sobriety. There’s nothing more that I protect than my recovery. And I found it kind of upsetting when the Bill Maher podcast, which I saw you on, reached out.”

He continued, “His thing is, he smokes pot the whole time while he interviews people. I said I’d happily go on there, but while I’m on, out of respect for my sobriety, could he refrain from smoking pot. He said no. That’s a deal breaker.”

Steve-O, who has long been open about his struggles with substance abuse and journey to sobriety, went on to say that this is not an issue he’s encountered with other podcast hosts who smoke pot during recordings.

“Mike Tyson’s podcast is called Hotboxin,” Steve-O said. “Be real! All of these prolific potheads, I’ve been on their shows and it wasn’t so important to them to blow marijuana smoke in my face. But for Bill Maher, it was a deal breaker.”

Representatives for Maher did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly’s request for comment.

Earlier in their chat, Steve-O also critiqued Maher’s behavior during his conversation with Bet-David. “I found the way he spoke to you to be rather insulting,” Steve-O told his guest. He later admitted that his read on the interview was likely influenced by his experience declining the podcast. “I could probably see him saying the most innocuous thing and find it insulting,” he laughed.

While Maher usually smokes throughout Club Random interviews, he did refrain during a recent episode featuring Sheryl Crow. While reflecting on responses to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Maher said, "That's when I need a joint, but I will never light one up,” he said, pointing at the singer. “But can I hold one?”

While the podcast host pulled a blunt from his pocket, Crow joked, “If I weren’t singing tomorrow, I’d say light that bad boy up right now."

“I’ve never not," Maher said of smoking during the interviews. "But for you? First of all, I would do this standing on my head, but it is a little like running a marathon for the first time"

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