A ‘Prank Panel’ Producer Is Suing Johnny Knoxville After A Taser Attack Allegedly Caused Him Serious Injuries
On every Jackass project, it’s assumed that the entire cast and crew are willing to put their bodies in harm’s way for the bit. But according to a new lawsuit, Johnny Knoxville took that spirit of assumed consent into his other projects — along with one of the tasers.
On Friday, The Wrap reported that screenwriter and producer Daniel Curry, who served as a segment producer and creative consultant on the ABC reality comedy series The Prank Panel starring Knoxville, is suing Knoxville for $3 million over an attack that occurred on the set of the series. According to Curry, less than a week into his tenure on Prank Panel, Knoxville accosted him with a taser and chased him around the production lot, eventually stunning Curry with the weapon while he was at a full run and causing him to crash to the pavement and break his fibula and tear an ankle ligament. Curry further accused Knoxville of workplace harassment and cited Prank Panel production companies ITV America and Jimmy Kimmel’s Kimmelot in the filing.
Curry, a former writing partner of Eric André, who served as second lead on The Prank Panel, alleges that his bosses falsified the incident report following the attack, and, in the aftermath, Knoxville and André both pressured him to keep quiet about the incident under threat of being “blackballed.”
I’m pretty sure that term is also one of Knoxville’s diagnoses following Jackass Forever.
On The Prank Panel, Knoxville, André, and Precious star Gabourey Sidibe field pitches for potential pranks from members of the public who want to terrorize a friend or loved one with the full production budget of an ABC reality series. In the inaugural episode, Knoxville helped the husband of a professional wedding officiant trick his wife into thinking that she married a brother and sister and would lose her license. Presumably, Knoxville will also help that man pull off an epic joke during his divorce proceedings.
Curry’s case isn’t the first time Knoxville’s supposed bad behavior has caused issues for the production of The Prank Panel — before André allegedly abandoned his creative partner and participated in retributive harassment of Curry, André quit The Prank Panel multiple times after Knoxville’s pranks of his co-star continuously crossed the line.
Additionally, handyman Khalil Khan also sued Knoxville for emotional distress after he was targeted for a prank during the show’s production in 2022. In the unaired sketch, Khan went out on a “job” where actors threatened to assault him, had his car towed and said they would frame him for cocaine possession if he tried to call the police. Khan later dropped the suit.
Now, Knoxville, André, ITV America and Kimmelot stand accused of attempting to silence the victim of a particularly injurious on-set prank and ruining Curry’s reputation in the industry after he refused to endorse the official explanation that he simply suffered a “rolled ankle” after Knoxville attacked him with a taser. Curry is seeking $950,000 in compensatory and general damages, $300,000 in special and incidental damages and $1,750,000 for past and future earning loss.
