Tony Hawk on Becoming "Mainstream" After Video Game Success, Backlash

I would like to be there to try to bridge that gap of the non-skating viewer who is interested and explain to them why this nuance is going to score way higher than this other, even though they look the same to you. Yeah. And I've done it. They had the Vans Park series all last year where we went to all over the world. We went to China, Brazil, Canada, France, and they built these parks that they left there. But I was doing all the commentary for the events. And that was kind of where...that's where my strengths are, is being able to explain those things to non-skaters. Well, that's going to be fun for you too, because it's an opportunity to sort of proselytize, let everybody know, like show them how cool this is. Yeah, for sure. Put words to your passion, this thing. I mean, that's got to really spark up the interests of new skaters. I think that's the silver lining with the Olympics. I mean, there is a lot of controversy in the hardcore skate scene where it's just like, we're not blowing the limit. We've always done this to be anti-that type of thing anyway. Yeah, and then it's just like, well, you guys, all those things you love about skating will still exist. Right. You can still go hop fences and skate the hint. We're like, that's not taken away from you. If anything, it's going to bring it to a bigger audience that is going to be interested. Yeah. And I believe a more international audience. I think that's the really cool part about it. That's a thing though, man. When things start going mainstream, people always panic. Right. But that's the other thing is this, like, if you think that the competition element is what is somehow sanitizing skating, I grew up skating competitions. I literally entered my first contest at age 10. That is the only way you got recognized when I was a kid. Like, this is not something new to skateboarding. It's just that now there are different opportunities in skating and there is a way to make a living even if you don't compete. And so because that exists, people are just like, Olympics are a, you know, that's a sport competition. Like, yeah, but we already have street league. We already have the do tour. We already have X Games. Those things all exist. So we're going to have this other big event once every four years. People always want to shit on something that's different than what they're doing, though. Oh, sure. It seems like. I mean, hey, I've lived with so much ridicule my whole life that I just, it's like, yeah, sure. Whatever you say. Well, for you, I mean, you've crossed over to the other side. That's what's interesting. I mean, you don't even need a thick skin anymore. Yeah, I mean, there's obviously still haters like you're a sellout and whatnot, but it's like. Do you read those comments? I don't read Twitter or anything, do you? I like if someone's making enough noise, I'll see it. And, you know, every once in a while, I like to see what the what the general vibe is on something. But when I grew up, like, I think my journey allowed me to really be prepared for that because when I was a kid, I was doing this outcast activity. Right. So I was already not cool in school. And then I started skating and I was like a scrawny little kid with a really sort of what they call robotic style because I was focusing on tricks. So I was getting made fun of in the skate world. So I was like an outcast in this outcast activity and it was really isolating. And at some point I was like, I love this too much to listen to these people and not do it. Like explain to me what you were getting shit on for. Like you had a robotic style. So basically when I first started getting into skating, especially pool skating, to be a pool skater, you had to be super cool. Look like you're surfing. It was all about your style. Right. And it was all about like how you flow. And if you're doing aerials, it's got to look cool. And and I was super scrawny, super short kid. And so all I really knew how to do was to maneuver my board. And so I was doing these tricks where I'd like spin my board under my feet and do these weird sort of hand plants and aerial tricks and things where it just wasn't that wasn't the normal. And it wasn't really considered the cool way to skate. And so they just they were like there's they call me circus, circus skater. Like, oh, there's Tony with the circus tricks. Oh, wow. And then at some point I just like I loved what I was doing and I didn't really listen to it. And then I got I got more confident and I got stronger. And then I started doing this stuff like way up high in the air. And then it was sort of undeniable. It was like, oh, well, that is something. So was there pressure for you to change your style and sort of blend in? I just didn't have I didn't have the bulk to be able to do it anyway. So I didn't. Yeah, like I just didn't have that weight behind me. And so what I did was when back then in order to do aerials at a pool, you had to like reach down and grab your board and sort of muscle it into the air and above the coping. And I learned how to launch into the air without grabbing my board and then grabbing it at the peak. And that allowed me to get the height when I was still really scrawny and weak. And they said that technique was cheating. Like they literally wrote that and thrash your magazine. It's just like, well, Tony Hawk cheats because he always into his air is and that way he can just grab it wherever. And I was just like, yes, that's exactly it. That's what I'm trying to do. That's so weird. That's so weird. So they would judge you on what? That's so crazy. Here's this invented thing. Right. Right. This art form and then you're doing it your way. And they're saying you're cheating. Yeah. Yeah. I don't. It just it was just like this old guard in skating and they just didn't like to see anything new or or sort of fringe. And then I started doing that. And then and then a lot of my peers who were my age, they all figured that same technique out. And then we just kind of took over. You know, that became the way to skate. And but but then through the years, like in those days, you know, skating was still very much a novelty. And then in the 90s, like X Games came into play. And then all of a sudden my name was was being well was well known, not mainstream, but but getting there. And then our video game came out and then it was just like, oh, you're just a sellout. And it was like because of the video game, because the video game, the endorsements that followed from that. You know, I was doing stuff for Jeep, for McDonald's, for Doritos. And they were just like, oh, you're just a sellout. I was like, when I turned pro at age 14, if McDonald's had asked me to be in a commercial, I would have jumped on it. Are you kidding me? Like I was eating McDonald's my whole life. I still do. So it was more like they thought someone changed my values and was just like, I haven't changed my value system. It's just that I'm getting these opportunities finally. And I've been doing this for most of my life. For the most part, it's getting opportunities that they're not. So the best way to dismiss that or diminish it is to say that you're a sellout because you're on a video game. Like that's so short sighted. Sure. But but but so what I'm saying is that just sort of that sort of steeled my resolve where. So once social media came into play and people were talking shit online, I was like, you're not getting to me through this. You know, this through this media. People used to say this to my face. You used to write about this. Write about me in magazines like you're hiding behind your Twitter username. I don't care. When you first saw someone say that you were cheating by using that technique, how bad that must have sucked up. Yeah. And it was from it was from a skater that I really respected, too. He was quoted in the magazine and that was it was crushing. Wow. That's such a bitch ass approach. You know, cheating. That's so weird to me because I never would have I guess it makes sense because there's always factions in any discipline or any art form or anything where some people respect some things and other people shit on it. But the idea that you doing it your way would somehow or another be cheating. To me, it seems so strange. That doesn't make any sense. Like I said, it was it was just weird because skating was just a small community at the time. And it was like, why are you like, why are we fighting in our little tiny world? It's always going to be that way. Yeah, that's just humans. Yeah, especially when you're doing something different, especially if you're getting attention, doing something different. They're going to find some way to diminish you. Yeah, it was just it was it was harder for me because all I wanted to be was accepted as a skater. You know, I kind of given up on my peers on my schoolmates. I knew I wasn't going to fit in there. And so I was like, I found this thing and then just like, you guys don't like me the way I do it. Rough. But look, you hung in there and came out on the other end. Yeah. And I don't I don't harbor any ill. You know, I mean, a lot of people are like, oh, you should go back to school, like go to your reunion. And I was like, I don't it's not some revenge for me. I just loved. I'm just so thankful that I still get to do this for a living. Like this is seriously living the dream. Like I get to do this for a living. I get to come on your show because I'm a skateboarder. Like the stuff that I've gotten to do over my life is beyond any dream I could have ever written or imagined. And it's all because I just kept skating. That is the American dream to me. For sure. Or the worldwide dream. Yeah. The human dream. Absolutely. To be able to do what you want for a living and to continue doing it. Yeah. And support your family and to you know. It's crazy. The kind of stuff that yeah, that we've gotten to do, especially as a family, like the kind of trips we've taken. The trips we've taken and people we've met. For skating. Yeah, for skating. It's crazy. That's amazing. Do you still talk to that guy who shit on you back then? Do you know who that guy is? I do. I think he fell on some hard times. Oh, well. That's how it usually goes with haters. Yeah. I'm sorry.