Jason Jessee

Jason Jessee (born December 29th) [1] is an American professional skateboarder and automotive designer best known for his stint with Santa Cruz Skateboards in the late 1980s. He was identified as the 24th most influential skateboarder of all time by TransWorld SKATEboarding magazine in 2011.[2] The feature documentary Pray for Me: The Jason Jessee Film was released in 2007.

Skateboarding

Jessee's first sponsor was Powell Peralta and later Vision Street Wear,[1] but made the move to a professional sponsorship deal with Santa Cruz Skateboards in December 1987. He notably featured in the company's 1988 highlight video Streets on Fire, in which he played a fictional version of himself who is arrested and jailed for illegal skateboarding.[3] After an extended period of absence from the skateboarding industry, Jessee was once again sponsored by Santa Cruz and he helped the company during its 40th-anniversary celebration in 2013.[4]

In June 2012, Converse Skateboarding posted a short video on its YouTube channel welcoming Jessee as a company ambassador, which was shot at Jessee's rural California home and featured footage of his motorcycle riding and skateboarding.[5] Jessee appeared in the 2018 film Converse PURPLE,[6] but was then "indefinitely suspended" by Converse in May 2018 — during which he also made his first Thrasher magazine cover appearance — after details of his controversial past surfaced.[7][6]

Alongside other professional skateboarders such as Tony Hawk and Kevin Staab, Jessee was interviewed for the 2002 feature documentary Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator, about the tragedy of former professional skateboarder Mark "Gator" Rogowski.[8] Jessee later described Rogowski in a June 2014 interview as a "creep".[9]

Other ventures

Jessee has additionally worked as a custom-car and motorcycle builder, and was briefly a member of Los Angeles-based lowrider car club Dukes.[1]

Controversy

Jessee came under controversy in May 2018 when a thread on an online forum hosted by Slap magazine alleged his past usage of racial slurs, hate speech, and Nazi imagery.[10][7][6] The thread was later deleted but Vice published an article that month about the allegations, including details of a brawl at a skateboarding contest in 1986 between Jessee and African-American skateboarder Ned "Peanut" Brown, during which Jessee had reportedly called Brown "nigger".[11] Jessee consequently lost all of his endorsements, including that with NHS, the parental company of Santa Cruz Skateboards.[10]

On January 4, 2006, Jessee was removed from a flight and arrested at San Jose International Airport after passengers aboard the flight reported him writing in a journal that had the words "suicide bomber" written on the cover, in addition to his "acting bizarrely" and "clutching his backpack".[1]

He was arrested in April 2019 in Watsonville, California for possession of a stolen vehicle and an unregistered and illegally-configured assault rifle.[12][13]

References
  1. Staff (April 20, 2006). "I've Had So Much Fun with Cops". OC Weekly. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  2. Blair Alley (20 December 2011). "The 30 Most Influential Skaters Of All Time". TransWorld SKATEboarding. TEN. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  3. Streets on Fire (Home video). Santa Cruz Skateboards. 1988.
  4. Powderkeg (5 October 2013). "Jason Jessee celebrates 40 years of Santa Cruz Skateboards" (Video upload). BNQT. USA Today Sports. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  5. "Converse Skateboarding: Ambassador — Jason Jessee" (Video upload). Converse on YouTube. Google Inc. 1 June 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  6. "Why is Thrasher Magazine Trying to Rehabilitate Jason Jessee's Reputation?". Max Dubler. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  7. Murrell, Andrew (2018-05-24). "Skateboarding Icon Jason Jessee Is Under Fire for Use of Swastikas and Racist Remarks". Vice. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  8. Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (Motion picture). Stoked Productions. 2002.
  9. "Jason Jessee Speaks Chinese on Free Lunch" (Video upload). RIDE Channel on YouTube. Google Inc. 25 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  10. "Jason Jessee Dropped by Sponsors Amid Racism Controversy". The Berrics. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  11. Kelly, Emma (January 15, 2019). "The inclusive future of skating". The Strand. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  12. "Jason Jessee Arrested on Stolen Car & Illegal Gun Charges". SKATE NEWSWIRE. 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  13. "Watsonville man arrested for having a stolen car and illegal gun". KION. 2019-04-26. Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
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