Sober Steve-O Forced to Turn Down Appearance on Bill Maher's Podcast Because He Refused Not to Smoke Pot Around Him

Steve-O, who is sober, revealed he was forced to turn down an appearance on Bill Maher's podcast because the late-night host refused not to smoke pot around him.

“I’m a clean and sober guy. It’s very important that I maintain my sobriety, it’s approaching 16 years,” the Jacka-- star said on his "Wild Ride!" podcast about the offer. “I am about to be sweet 16. Really, there’s nothing I value more than my sobriety. There’s nothing more that I protect than my recovery. I found it kind of upsetting when the Bill Maher podcast reached out and he smokes pot the whole time while he interviews people. I said I’d happily go on there, but while I’m on, out of respect for my sobriety, could he refrain from smoking pot. He said no and that’s a dealbreaker.”

Steve-O, 49, appeared annoyed that Maher, 68, wouldn't kick the habit for a small amount of time.

“Mike Tyson’s podcast is called ‘Hotboxin,'” Steve-O said. “Be real! All of these prolific potheads, I’ve been on their shows and it wasn’t so important to them to blow marijuana smoke in my face, but for Bill Maher it was a dealbreaker.”

After Steve-O's story went viral, some internet sleuths pointed out how Maher previously respected people's wishes. When Sheryl Crow appeared on the show, Maher told her: “That’s when I need a joint … but I’d never light one up in front of you.”

In Steve-O's book, A Hard Kick in the Nuts: What I've Learned from a Lifetime of Terrible Decisions, which was released in September 2022, the reality star got candid about his battle with addiction and how far he's come since then.

"It's been more of an exercise in just understanding that I don't know how to rein anything in and just kind of accepting that moderation is not my strong suit," Steve-O said in the book. "Accepting who you are, and what about that is not gonna change, I think is a big part of it for me. I've come to accept that I'm never gonna be a moderation guy."

He continued: "As it relates to addictions, I think that it's about sort of surrendering to the process of recovery... the first step in the 12 steps being admitting that we're powerless in our lives. We admit defeat, you know? And you surrender when you've been defeated. So that's kinda how you address addiction."

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One of the reasons Steve-O is in a much better place is due to to fiancée Lux Wright. "I do not believe there is a single person in my orbit who's even remotely close to me or cares about me at all who doesn't recognize that, in my relationship with Lux, I am a better version of myself," the comedian noted.