Updated, 9:10 a.m., Tuesday: Police say "Jackass" star Ryan Dunn died in a fiery car crash in suburban Philadelphia early Monday morning.
Police say Dunn's car careered off the road, flipped over a guardrail and crashed into the woods before bursting into flames. A passenger, Zachary Hartwell, 30, of West Chester, Pa., was also killed, and speed may have been a factor in the crash, West Goshen Township police said.
The Associated Press reports that the force of impact shattered the vehicle into several twisted and blackened pieces, leaving the Porsche 911 GT3 unrecognizable except for a door that was thrown from the crash and not incinerated. A 100-foot-long tire skid marked where the car left the roadway. Both Dunn and Hartwell were severely burned. Police said they were able to identify Dunn through his tattoos and hair.
Autopsies were to be conducted Monday, though it was unclear when the results would be released, the AP says.
The 34-year-old Dunn appeared on the MTV shows "Jackass" and "Viva La Bam" and the three "Jackass" big-screen adaptations. He also was the star of his own MTV show, "Homewrecker," and hosted "Proving Ground" on the G4 cable network (see clip below). G4 spokesman Dave Welch said "Proving Ground," which premiered June 11 with the second episode slated to air Tuesday, was being pulled for now until the network can discuss the show's future.
Movie critic Roger Ebert tweeted about Dunn's death Monday and was criticized by Dunn's "Jackass" co-star Bam Margera and blogger Perez Hilton.
Ebert wrote: "'Jackass'" star Ryan Dunn, RIP. His Porsche flew through 40 yards of trees." He later tweeted, "Friends don't let jackasses drink and drive," referring to a photograph Dunn posted on Twitter early Monday showing himself drinking with friends just hours before the 3 a.m. crash. The photo has since been removed.
"We understand what he's trying to say," Hilton wrote, "but still — this is extremely insensitive!"
Margera erupted in expletives when he tweeted Monday night saying, "I just lost my best friend. I have been crying hysterical for a full day and...Roger Ebert has the gall to put in his 2 cents."
"We are devastated by the tragic loss of Ryan Dunn -- a beloved member of the MTV family for more than a decade," said a statement from Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music/Films Group. "He made us all laugh and had the tireless enthusiastic approach to life of your favorite middle school friend. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with Ryan's family and friends. The Jackass brotherhood will never be the same."
The AP reports that, according to a biography posted on his website, Dunn was born in Ohio and moved at age 15 to Pennsylvania, where he met Margera on his first day of high school.
Dunn, Margera, Christopher Raab (known as Raab Himself) and Brandon DiCamillo, under the moniker CKY for "Camp Kill Yourself," started making videos that featured them skateboarding and performing stunts.
The AP says Dunn was working as a welder and at a gas station when Johnny Knoxville, a friend of Margera's through the skateboarding circuit, asked the crew to allow their videos to be part of the series "Jackass," which became a hit on MTV and ran from 2000 to 2002.
Perhaps Dunn's most famous stunt, in 2002's "Jackass: The Movie," involved inserting a toy car into his rectum and going to an emergency room, where he made up a story that he was in mysterious pain after passing out at a fraternity party. Dunn's X-ray from the hospital became a popular T-shirt with "Jackass" fans.
Like many, Knoxville took to Twitter on Monday to react to the news: "Today I lost my brother Ryan Dunn. My heart goes out to his family and his beloved Angie. RIP Ryan , I love you buddy."
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