Steve-O Is Growing His Sumner County Animal Rescue

The Scene accidentally let Steve-O’s goats out of their pen.

About an hour northeast of downtown Nashville in rural Sumner County is a 44-acre property by the name of The Radical Ranch. The ranch’s proprietor: 52-year-old stuntman, podcaster and comedian Stephen Glover, known to fans of the Jackass franchise as Steve-O.

Since purchasing the property in 2023, Steve-O — who says he spends “precisely 30 percent” of his days at the ranch due to frequent touring — has used the land as a home for rescued animals. Among the animals, who are cared for full time by ranch hand Daniel Amaya, is a trio of goats named Sam, Drake and Phil. 

“They were our animal sanctuary starter kit,” Steve-O says of the goats, whom he acquired in November 2019 while living in the Hollywood Hills.

As likely the second-most-recognizable member of Johnny Knoxville’s longtime Jackass crew, the skater is best known as a sort of raspy-voiced, Speedo-wearing, Gen-X Evel Knievel with a lot of ridiculous tattoos. (Including, yes really, the rudimentary penis Post Malone inked onto his forehead at Bonnaroo 2024.) But pretty much as long as risk-taking has been a central part of Steve-O’s life, so has caring for and advocating for animals. Steve-O has explained in the past that his gradual entry into animal rights activism was inspired in part by the animal abuse he witnessed in his early days as a circus performer.

Now, as the final Jackass film hits theaters — Jackass: Best and Last, which Steve-O promises is “genuinely” the last for the aging crew of skaters — he wants to grow The Radical Ranch. 

Fortunately, it’s not really a big deal that Sam, Drake and Phil slipped out of the pen during the Scene’s visit. Steve-O lets them wander the property on this clear May afternoon, and he can corral them back toward their pen when he needs to. In the meantime, Steve-O — who insists that the Scene’s small cadre of staffers apply tick-repellent lotion before touring the grounds (he’s heard “too many horror stories” about tick-borne illness) — shows us the skate ramp housed in a barn out back. He’s got gymnastic rings suspended over a half-pipe, enabling some pretty sick tricks despite a banged-up hip that’s been bothering him since he took a spill on his bicycle. 

Steve-O and his team successfully established The Radical Ranch as a 501(c)(3) last year, but he says it’s been a tough process — one that’s been “mired in administrative fucking red tape.”

“I didn’t sign up for becoming a fucking secretary, right?” he says. “The idea is, ‘Let’s fucking rescue some fucking animals.’ … But I get it, I’m gonna be under way more scrutiny than the average person.”

Steve-O came across the property while in town for a UFC event at Bridgestone Arena in the summer of 2023. Having struck out while looking for animal-appropriate sites in Colorado and Southern California, he had a real estate agent take him to see properties in the Nashville area — mostly in and around Franklin, he says, where he “didn’t see anything that was even remotely close for my budget and for what we were trying to do.”

But ultimately, the agent brought him to these 40-plus acres in Sumner County — more land than he’d planned to acquire, but it felt like the right fit. He spends much of his time on the road, with his Crash and Burn comedy tour set for dozens of dates later this summer. But a primary priority is expanding the number of animals he can rescue and care for.

“I was told that there are 43 species of farm animals that are ideal for human interaction,” he says. “There’s a children’s playhouse over there that needs to become a chicken coop. … And [I’d like] to build a tunnel out of the chicken coop that brings the chickens into the goat pen, so they can clear out all the ticks.”

Steve-O points to Rutherford County sanctuary The Gentle Barn as the “gold standard” of animal rescue.

“Sure, at some point,” he says when asked if he’d be open to inviting people to the ranch to visit with the animals, as The Gentle Barn does every Sunday. “It’s just tricky because I live here. I can certainly imagine a point when we open up to the public, but I’m just not ready for that.”

As much as this man has abused his body over the years, he’s nothing but tender with the animals — as illustrated by how he talks about The Radical Ranch’s pig, Fonzarelli. Steve-O rescued the thick, bristly-haired pig of an indeterminate age roughly a year ago. 

“One of our neighbors — his uncle had terminal cancer and had some animals that he could no longer care for,” he tells the Scene, gesturing toward the “particularly nimble and agile and mobile” pig. “And we rescued Fonzie from the uncle, and like the day after Fonzie got here, the uncle passed away.”

The ranch is currently also home to several rescued cats and dogs, and Steve-O wants to put up more fencing so he can acquire cows. Could horses be in The Radical Ranch’s future?

“Horses are ambitious,” he says. “Maybe at one point we get to that, but they are an incredible amount of work and skill and resources. I think donkeys are probably first. And they’re really good at protecting cattle, and I could have a whole cast of jackasses.”

Anyone interested in donating to The Radical Ranch can do so at theradicalranch.org/pages/donations.