Jackass Star Vincent 'Don Vito' Margera Dead at 59

Uncle of Bam Margera succumbed to kidney, liver failure: family
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 16, 2015 9:34 AM CST
Jackass Star Vincent 'Don Vito' Margera Dead at 59
Screenshot of Vincent "Don Vito" Margera.   (YouTube)

In what TMZ describes as a "double blow" for Jackass star Bam Margera, his uncle, Vincent "Don Vito" Margera, died early Sunday at age 59, April Margera (Bam's mother and Vincent's sister-in-law) tells TMZ. Vincent, also known as his character "Don Vito," "struggled with kidney and liver issues for a while, and he put up a good fight," April tells CNN. Vincent was a regular in the original Jackass series on MTV, as well as in the films, and often showed up in his nephew's MTV vehicle, Viva La Bam, from 2003 to 2006, US Weekly reports. In what may be the most oddly slanted obituary of Margera, the Washington Post notes, "He was fat. He was slow. He was often intoxicated, and/or appeared to have a speech impediment. If it was an act, it didn't seem like it. And if he was in on the joke … it didn't seem like it."

Things got worse when a Colorado judge found Vincent Margera guilty in 2007 of two counts of sexual assault against a minor, which led to 10 years' probation, registration as a sex offender, and a ban on him playing Don Vito, Rolling Stone notes. Still, April Margera says he faced his demise with grace. "He said to me last week that he wanted everyone to know it was a good ride," she tells CNN. "He went through a lot, especially with the Denver stuff. He wanted everyone to know that he never did that." TMZ notes that the Jackass team previously lost another co-star and friend, Ryan Dunn, in a 2011 car crash. "RIP Don Vito. You will be missed," Johnny Knoxville tweeted Sunday. (The last Jackass star to make headlines was Steve-O for his dramatic SeaWorld protest.)

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