When the highly-anticipated comedy film Jackass 4 hits screens later this year, one glaring difference to the line-up will be the absence of cast member Bam Margera.
While stars Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O will be returning to their roles in the Jeff Tremaine-directed movie, they will do so without stunt performer Margera, 41, who has been with the franchise since its MTV days in the early 2000s.
It was reported in February that Margera was dropped from the film for allegedly breaching his contract, as he shared—and then swiftly deleted—a series of posts on Instagram condemning the production for strict protocols on drug testing.
And Margera's absence from the movie, which is set to be released in October, has become a point of discussion among fans once again, as he has released another video attacking the team behind the production on Sunday.
Wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, the skateboarder said: "So, my family, Jackass, has betrayed me, abandoned me, rejected me... not all of them, I love all of them and they love me back, but specifically, Jeff Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville.
"So, I feel like my family has f***ing done everything horrible to me, and made me jump through hoops and walk on eggshells, which is impossible, and strung me along like a f***ing puppet to get the $5 million I usually get when making a movie with them."
He also stated that he is getting help from a woman who he says has worked with AC/DC's Brian Johnson and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler.
However, his former co-star Steve-O, 46, spoke out to defend Knoxville and Tremaine in a comment posted under Margera's video.
A post from Steve-O's official account read: "Bam— the two people you're saying wronged you (Knoxville and Tremaine) are the same two people who organized the intervention which saved my life.
"Everyone bent over backwards to get you in the movie, and all you had to do was not get loaded. You've continued to get loaded, it's that simple."
London-born TV personality Steve-O, who celebrated 13 years of sobriety in March, concluded: "We all love you every bit as much as we all say we do, but nobody who really loves you can enable or encourage you to stay sick."
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Tremaine and Knoxville for comment.
Jackass 4's cast will be all the more depleted, following the June 2011 death of key star Ryan Dunn, who passed away in a single-vehicle car accident in West Goshen, Pennsylvania.
Dunn's passenger Zachary Hartwell—who was also killed in the crash—worked as a production assistant on Jackass Number Two.
Steve-O and Knoxville will return alongside regulars Jason "Wee Man" Acuña, Dave England, Preston Lacy, Ehren McGhehey, and Chris Pontius.
Debuting on MTV in October 2000, Jackass featured its cast members playing pranks and stunts on one another.
They then moved to the silver screen, with the release of Jackass: The Movie in 2002. Shot on a budget of $5 million, the film grossed $60 million at the box office.
The franchise's most recent cinematic outing, Jackass 3D, pulled in $50 million on its opening weekend in October 2010.
Jackass 4 is set to be released on October 22.
