Rodeo clown video from Houston that went viral last month is totally staged

I was scrolling through Facebook and saw this clip of a rodeo clown getting thrown around by a bull, supposedly at the Houston Livestock Show. The way he flew looked way too clean, like a stuntman landing on pads. I worked at a rodeo for three summers in Lubbock, and real clowns don't bounce off dirt like that. The hat stayed glued to his head the whole time, and the crowd noise didn't match the action at all. I checked the original upload date, and it was actually from a 2019 PRCA practice session with professional stunt actors. The account that posted it is pushing some crypto scam in their bio too. Has anyone else spotted other rodeo clips that look fishy?

3 comments

3 Comments

averywilliams14d ago

Landing like a stuntman" sounds like someone who's never seen a real rodeo clown practice their falls.

aaron88414d ago

Landing like a stuntman" is a weird way to describe it. I read somewhere that rodeo clowns train their falls to take the impact on their back and shoulders, not just flop around. Real stunt work is more about controlled injury than looking cool.

elizabethhayes10d ago

@aaron884 nailed it with the controlled injury point. I started landing on my shoulders after wrecking my back the first time, and it made all the difference in how long I could keep doing falls.