Ryan Sheckler Interview
 I have a very unpopular opinion to share with you; I like Ryan Sheckler. I like his mom, Gretchen, even more with her warm smile and inviting eyes and tight pants…mmmm, Gretchen.
But I like Ryan too. I have known him since he was a child. I tried to get him to drink beer with me when he was 9, while simultaneously showing him how to drive a team van. I took him on his first date. I have him seen him grow from a young, helmet wearing, contest-winning little guy to a shirtless, varying hair styled contest-winning big guy. Sure, I’ll agree with you on many points about Ryan: the way skateboarding has been portrayed on his show sucks, enough with the “chill girl” shit, put a shirt on, that tattoo is a bit large, his back-up dancers on the show are kooks, etc, etc. But the way I look at it, at 18 I wouldn’t be turning down the amount of ass and cash that is being thrown at him (I don’t think you would either), love him or hate him the kid skates extremely well and he gets kids interested in skateboarding. People might argue that he’s getting people into skating for the wrong reasons and that’s a fair argument I suppose. But most of those kids won’t stick with skating. I watched it first hand when Bam’s show exploded in 2003. Do you think that show was a good representation of skateboarding? I don’t. But we sold a shitload of Bam decks at NJ Skateshop for a while. And yeah, most of those kids have since quit but many of them are still skating and they have come into their own. They buy Blueprint decks and Bakers and Habitats and Zoo Yorks now. But it was Bam that got them into the skateshops. And Ryan is doing the same thing.
At the end of the day, I don’t give a shit what you think of Ryan Sheckler and after you read this, you’ll see neither does he. But I do think you might be surprised by what he has to say. So give the kid a chance. If not for him, then for me. And his mom. We’re trying to start a beautiful life together and it’s hard when Ryan is crying all the time.
First off, what type of shit do you hear on a daily basis?
The stuff I hear on a daily basis is so ridiculous. I get people telling me I’m ruining skateboarding. It’s bullshit. Even if I wasn’t a skater and did the show, I’d still get shit for it. There’s no way to get around the haters. I’m not even trying to get around them, I’m just trying to make sense out of what they’re doing and show them how retarded they’re being because the kids that see my show and have never skated before, now all of a sudden what to pick up a skateboard and go skate. And that doesn’t mean they’re going to just buy my board; they’re going to buy the board that looks the coolest which might be a Baker board or a Zero board. The show in itself is helping skateboarding in general just to get the word out there that kids can skateboard and it doesn’t matter how old you are.
Having seen it firsthand at my shop with the Bam phenomenon, I know what you’re doing actually drives kids into the shops. Some might fade out but some might become lifers as a result.
I think it does help. It just puts skateboarding out there for more people to see. When Jamie Thomas is sitting down and making millions of dollars and then for him to turn around and speak bad words on me is ridiculous, especially since I looked up to that dude for so long. To hear him say I’m ruining skateboarding is ridiculous. But I think my Plan B video part is going to show a lot people what’s up. It’s definitely going to be the best video part anyone has ever seen from me. My skating right now is better than its ever been and I’m way more focused than ever because I’m more hungry.
Does it make you cry when your peers are dicks to you?
No, it doesn’t make me cry. It’s them being foolish. You can’t judge someone until you meet them and no matter what you hear about someone is just hearsay until you meet them yourself. So keep hating. It’s great. As bad as it sounds, it’s just putting my name out there more and kids are recognizing me over other people because I’m getting hated on so hard. It’s sick. I love it. I just want to know why people hate so hard. I’d like to put out a survey with legit people who aren’t scared to say who they are and tell me exactly why I’m doing something wrong for skateboarding. I want to hear it. Tell me to my face, not behind my back. If you see me, tell me. I’m here to listen. I’m not an asshole. Some kid came up to me and said, “My friend said you’re such a dick. He asked you to sign an autograph and you did and then told him to fuck off.” I mean, why would I ever do that? Do I look like that guy? I’ll sign a million autographs, I don’t care.
Do you read the message boards?
I don’t. I stay as far away as I can from them. I personally like reading them when they’re about me because I think its funny. I get a kick out of it. But when they start talking about my mom and my dad and my brothers that’s when it gets personal and I get pretty pissed. That shit sucks.
Do you think that if you can steer this show away from the crying and “chill girl” bullshit and get it to be a skate show, do you think that would change people’s perception of you?
No, I don’t. I think people have already made up their minds about me without getting to know me, which is a shame. I hope someday I can change their minds and show them I’m just a regular skateboarder that started at the bottom like every other skateboarder. I went through the amateur series and happened to get sponsored and happened to get to this point. With success comes haters and I have a lot of them.
I heard guys that had just signed to Etnies had clauses put in their contracts that they would never have to be around you.
No. Whatever. I don’t even know what to say to that. I really don’t care if they did or didn’t. I’m sorry if someone thinks I’m ruining skateboarding but I’m not.
Is it true that you no longer own any t-shirts and you just always walk around shirtless now?
No, that’s not true. I’m sitting here with you right now wearing a sweater. They just always seem to put those shots on TV, which I don’t give a fuck either. The reason for those Rolling Stone photos without the shirt was to show off the tattoo. And the reason I got the tattoo was to follow my dad; he got the same one. I got the same tattoo as him right after the divorce. A picture got out and now it’s the only picture anyone shows; me with my shirt off with the tattoo. Whatever. Fuck it. I should have done the opener of this interview without a shirt.
 I’d never seen the show and I didn’t understand where the hate was coming from. Then I watched the entire first season to get ready for this interview. And now I understand. I’m really not into it. But not for the same reasons everyone dislikes it. Knowing you and knowing your family I don’t feel what is portrayed on TV is really you.
The show is real and it does have the issues that me and my family are going through the way they choose to show on a 30-minute episode. You can’t see the whole two weeks of what’s really happening that led up to that 30 minute show; so yeah a lot of that is cut and paste. The thing with me now is that everything has changed: my mindset, my mentality over skateboarding, the way I treat my family, the way I treat my fans mainly because of the divorce. The divorce was the biggest, gnarliest thing that has ever happened in my life. The show really is me because I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to be a family man now.
I heard your parent’s divorce happened before the filming and it’s being reenacted for television.
The divorce did not happen before the filming. The divorce happened during the first shooting of the first episode, during the pilot it was going on. So they filmed it and then used it for the first episode.
It comes off to me that the show is geared towards little girls, to make you into a teenage heartthrob. It has skating in there but it’s not enough of you as a skateboarder.
And it’s not, I agree. That’s one of my main concerns and that’s what I’ve been trying to do with the newest episodes. Tonight’s episode is the Plan B demo for the Make-A-Wish trip. Half the episode is street skating. The episode after that is us in the Dominic Republic. I am making the biggest effort to make it more skating. The more and more the episodes go on, the more the skating will increase. And if there is a third season, which I don’t really know any details on that, then it will be 100% skateboarding. I’m buying a house right now, then it’s on. It’s a full-on skate mission.
Is it scary to you that this show might have done serious, irrevocable damage to your relationship with core skateboarders?
I can try to fix it as hard as I can. This is an opportunity for me to do something that I’ve always wanted to do. It just so happens that I can skateboard and I wanted to do the show and it is my doing and I don’t regret it all. I don’t regret it in the slightest. If I’ve lost the core fans, then those are my true fans and those are the fans I’m going to try and get back. Those are the ones that I need. And through my Plan B video part that we’re filming I hope it turns them around and shows them that I really am skating and it is really about the skating for me. I don’t put anything out that is shit and the stuff I’m filming for this part, I’ve never been more pleased with myself and never felt so comfortable on my skateboard. The video part should show it.
Do you really think you can go back and undo what has been done?
Yeah, I think there’s a chance. By not talking about it but by my actions. Actions speak louder than words. It starts with me putting out these interviews and video parts and just skating. I hope that can change it.
Danny Way used to be without a shirt a lot when he was younger—
Danny Way is one of my idols. I look up to him so much. Him and Colin are the ones that made realize that the haters don’t matter and I just really need to skate. Danny had a lot of haters when he was younger as well. Him and I are very similar and because of that Danny sticks up for me like crazy. He’s one of my biggest supporters. Jamie Thomas said all that stupid shit about me to Danny and Danny came to me and said, “Look, man. Look what’s happening in our own community.” And he stood up for me. He is so sick. And he is what makes me know it’s possible to change people’s perception. Because he did it. He helps me so much.
You seem to be pretty headstrong but are there days when all the hate becomes unbearable?
Oh yeah, dude. There’s days like that all the time. I just want to skate. I tell the MTV guys I’m going skating and I leave. But it sucks. Like the other day this 14-year-old kid at the skatepark comes up to me and says, “You’re a faggot.” I’m like, “Fuck you.” I’m 18, what can I do? I can’t get in a fight because I have too much to lose. But haters want to get me in a fight because they know that I can lose everything. So I let it roll off my back. People call me a faggot I say, “God bless you, man.” And they get so much more pissed when I don’t get pissed. And that’s what I live for. I love that shit.
Another criticism of the show is that all you show is contest skating.
I love when people say I’m just a contest skater. It fuels my fire. Contests for me are fun. I grew up skating contests, skating CASL. I love skating contests. I’m a competitive person and competing is fun for me. You have guys like Lutzka and Jeremy and Paul that skate all the same contests I skate but they never get flack for being contest skaters. It’s good for them that they have the respect of the skaters.
You say your competitive but some would say you bring a jock element to skating.
Then fuck ‘em. Fuck you. I don’t give a fuck. I skate contests for the pure fun of it. And winning is fun. Who doesn’t like to win? I don’t know what to say. I’m used to the hating at this point. Even through the whole Almost break-up, I had haters from that. Even people that were on the team were hating on me. That was a hideous, disgusting break up. We approached them really nicely about me leaving and they freaked out. They fought something that was going to happen anyway. Then right after I get off the team kids see one of their favorite skaters, someone really respected by everyone, talking shit on me to little kids. And that’s the same thing that happened with Jamie. He’s as well known as Jamie. I don’t understand it. I’m waiting to see these guys in person. I want to know why, the exact reasons why they think the way they think. And I think after this interview I will get the answers. The one thing I hope people get out of this is that I’m just trying to have fun with life and be a skater. There’s so many opportunities I get offered that are so amazing and if I pass them up I might never get them again.
 How have your two younger brothers been with the cameras and the fame? Because watching the show they don’t seem very comfortable at all.
Kane is the raddest. He loves it. He loves the attention and he loves being in front of the camera and he comes off nervous because he gets so excited. Shane on the other hand is the core. He is the rebel that wants to do something that is completely against Hollywood and TV. He’s a pool skater and he likes going fast and taking kids out at the skatepark. But my brothers support me in everything and if you have shit with me, you have shit with my brothers. And I wouldn’t want to fuck with Shane.
I heard you made a bet with Dyrdek.
Yeah, a big bet. It’s a $5,000 bet, cash, on who has the better ratings at the end of the season. It’s funny because he called me and said, “It’s on now. We got the same hour, skate hour, it’s done. I’m taking you out.” And I was like, “There is no way, no possible way it can happen.”
Didn’t he beat you on the first episode already?
He beat me on the first episode, I’m not sure what he did on the 2nd and 3rd but we’ll see at the end. It’s just a friendly bet. There’s a way he can beat me but I doubt it. But if I don’t beat him and I don’t get a third season I’ll just focus on skating more.
Would it faze you if the show went away?
I have to be careful how I word this. I think if I lost the show it would be kind of a bummer. It was a good time in my life. And if we continue with the show that’s cool and I’ll be psyched but it’s really not that big of deal if it goes away.
When I spoke to Dyrdek I asked him if he’d found a chill girl and he laughed and said he wasn’t looking for a chill girl but neither were you.
I’m not looking for a chill girl. I’m over it. I’m out there having fun now. I’ve realized that girlfriends just drag you down. I just turned 18 and I’m chilling now.
That was one thing watching the show that made me want to vomit. I was like, “Fuck. Enough already with the girlfriend shit.”
Yeah, I know. The thing with me is I’m into getting a girlfriend for the chase. Once I get one I realize I have one and it’s just not the thing for me.
How much of that was your doing versus MTV editing?
It’s actually all me. It’s all me. All of it.
Really? You’re going to accept blame for that shit? You’re steering that bullshit?
All of it. It was all me. I thought that was what I wanted in my life. I wanted to get a girlfriend at that point in my life. The first girl was so retarded and then it became, “How can I not get a girlfriend?” and so I just kept trying and then I got one and was like, “Ooof. I’m over it.”
Let me tell you my opinion. I don’t think there’s one kid that would turn their back on what you have and refuse all that pussy and all that money.
I know they wouldn’t. All the haters wouldn’t either and that’s what they have to realize.
Why don’t you tell them how much fun you’re having right now.
I am having a great time. I’m having a great time living life. The show is dope but I know I want to give this next five years the hardest skate run I’ve ever given. I’m going to skate as hard as I can to prove to everyone I do skate. I am a skater. If they don’t take it the right way, then so be it.
How much pussy are you running through right now?
Man, my grandma is going to read this. I just can’t do it. But it’s been a fun run.
Are we talking Wilt Chamberlain numbers?
No, I don’t even know.
I picture you in like a Heisman pose, head down, just stiff-arming your way through pussy. Have you had two at a time?
I mean , yeah, of course.
Three at a time?
Four was the most at one time at the Orlando Dew tour. All like 21, 22, 23-year-olds.
You get any MILFs?
No, but I don’t think I’ve really tried.
Speaking of MILFs, your mom is a very hot lady. Does she have hot friends?
She has some gorgeous friends. They’ll like the Housewives of the OC but real; those chicks are all fake. My next door neighbor is retarded how hot she is and they’re best friends, she comes over and has wine and I’m just like, “Hi guys. How you doing?”
Now you’re 18 and you can hit that.
Yeah but I don’t think that matters. It’s just funny to think about.
What do you think your mom would do if you porked her friend?
I don’t think she could do anything. She’d probably laugh her ass off.
I know your mom completely denies I have any chance of having a relationship with her but I wanted to know what your thoughts were.
There’s no way. No way.
What kind of step-dad do you think I would make for you?
On a for real note, I think I would be more psyched because I’ve known you for so long and it would be a lot of fun. But there’s no way.
What happened with the director of your Red Bull movie that died?
That was gnarly. He had some problems that no one knew about or at least I didn’t and he went home and committed suicide. We were trying to find the footage from the movie and we couldn’t find it and we tryied to get a hold of the guy. We couldn’t so we called his girlfriend and she went over to check on him and he was done. He drowned himself in his pool. He was the director. The main dude. So obviously that set back everything on the project. We wish his family well. The guy had some issues. It was right after we got back from Dubai. It was the sickest trip I’d been on in awhile and then that happened.
You’re in Dyrdek’s movie right?
Yeah, I play Paul Rodriguez’s girlfriend’s brother and I’m just a little shit the entire movie. I cockblock Paul a bunch of times.
Do you think life was easier when you used to dress as a monkey and skate in movies?
God. See. Dude. It’s even been going on back then. It’s been a crazy life but it’s been fun. I don’t regret anything. Well maybe some things like the monkey.
Really? You regret the monkey?
I would take that back in a second.
I think dressing as the monkey is the highlight of your whole career.
No fucking way. Shit. That’s the most retarded thing I’ve ever done. But I was like 9 or 10; I didn’t know any better. And I regret being in the movie Grind. That was pretty harsh.
I think you should revisit the monkey suit in your show.
No.
One episode, all monkey.
I’m just trying to finish filming this second season so I can get back to skate-life.
 Tell me about some crazy fans.
I got this letter the other day. It came in a box. I opened it and inside was this brand new DC hat and the letter. The letter said: I’m your biggest fan, blah, blah, blah. If she was a fan she should know I don’t ride for DC. Then she starts talking about how I need to start dating older girls and how she is the perfect girl for me, she’ll cook and clean. It’s like two pages long. I get to the back page and she stapled a photo and she’s like 34 years old, wearing a XXL tee, a beanie. It was some sketchy shit. We almost called the FBI. The shit she was saying was so gnarly, saying she’s the perfect girl and we could get married. So creepy. That’s thing that has been bad about all this; we get some crazy fans. This other girl sent me a deck that she took and put photos of me all over it and laminated. A full set up with my face all over it, on the top and bottom, with clear griptape. It was weird. She had baby pictures of me that I have no idea how she got them. No one has those pictures. It was some creepy shit.
Do you get dirty pictures?
If I do, my mom or my dad are keeping them from me.
On a final note, is there any chance of me getting together with your mom?
Zero chance. Shane, do you think Chris has a chance with mom?
Shane: Not a chance.
There you go. It’s a double negative.
Then it’s a positive! A double negative is a positive! Yous guys just said I have a chance! YES!
Shit. Well Kane will give you a negative, so you’re back to no chance.
Where do you think your mom and I should go on our honeymoon?
What? No place. Shut up. There’s no way on this God-given earth that you would have a chance with my mother.
You have a lot of money now. How much money would you give us in our wedding card?
In your wedding card? I wouldn’t. Nothing. Shut up.
You are so cheap! Screw it. I’ll just go to your house and take some shit. I’ll have movers load up your TV into the Range Rover.
Comments
JtotheLew
18 Jul 2008, 16:11
Grom.
joe mom'a
21 Jul 2008, 13:55
Sheckler is a jock skater. He is not ruining the sport but he is representing skateboarding on a National TV show. People who don't know what skaters are like may look at him and think skaters are for the most part like him, which sucks. What sucks even more is that it encourages jock type douche bags to skate. Which may be good for people selling skateboarding but it sucks have to see,talk,deal with and skate with JOCKS!!!
Chris
01 Aug 2008, 23:52
I have a lot more respect for Sheckler after reading this.
simon
17 Sep 2008, 14:02
i have to admit that i made fun of sheckler before. I won't be doing that no more...
Instead I will be running around, screaming out how my former idol Jamie Thomas seems to have converted into a bitter, retarded religios fanatic. What the fuck? "ruining skateboarding" what kind of fucking accusation is that to make as a grown man to a fucking 18 year old??!! "ruin your face"!
chandler
15 Oct 2008, 08:47
get off shcklers ass, seriously. he's a good skater. end of story.
chandler
15 Oct 2008, 08:47
get off shcklers ass, seriously. he's a good skater. end of story.
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