Tony Hawk | Who You Callin' A Sellout?

I really got into skating in a big way when I was about 11 years old and the moment when I knew I wanted to skate and not do other sports was the first time I went to a skate park and saw people flying out of pools all my life I was trying to find a buzz and I didn't really get it from teams for us I was okay a baseball in basketball but I didn't I wasn't improving at a rate I could see and then when I went to the skate park for the first time I literally saw these guys going into a pool and flying and I was like that's it and then I started trying to figure out how to do that I did it in the little pools I saw a picture of Steve Caballero who was about my size but just a little bit older and he was doing an air in Winchester like three or four feet out I saw these guys they were older and more experienced doing these things and it looked intimidating but it looked awesome when I saw Steve Caballero he was my size near my age and he was literally flying and I was like he can do it I can do that I know I may not do it as well as him or as much style but I'm gonna learn how to do that and that that was the moment that was the moment when I decided I was going to do that because I did like that it was made me different it was something that identify sup myself with and I it's made me stand apart from everyone else and went to school with all the most other kids my age you know I I did appreciate that but at the same time I always wondered why don't they like this you know this is this is amazing like this is it's super difficult it's adrenaline-filled it's dangerous um there's a sense of accomplishment you know what are they missing about this and it was always it just never really hit in those days and so yeah I guess I would be the one to either blame or credit for doing mainstream stuff and hopefully making it acceptable or making it authentic to be honest that happened because I lived through the 80s and I made all my biggest mistakes in the 80s and I thank God there was no TMZ or YouTube reading that stuff because I signed my right it's away to a few companies you know I didn't have control over my name or likeness and they started blasting stuff out that was just garbage junk with my name on it and I had no recourse and like I said it was the 80s skating wasn't as big as it is now and things were kind of forgiven back then you know especially a tire and stuff like that and so when I had the chance to do it again you know I got a second career from the most part because of X Games and you know skating cyclical popularity and as it came back around I was still kind of riding high and I was still skating well and they want to do more vert contests so I still have my vert skills and you know I jump back into the competitions and I was doing well and and I had a new opportunity to to do promotions and do endorsements and things like that and I definitely walked the line you know I was doing stuff like Club Med and Bagel Bites and McDonald's and of course I got a lot of flack for big endorsements I mean you know people call me bagel boy for a while and the thing is is that when people here always watch my McDonald's sellout you're sellout that's it you know the case closed you don't you know get any recourse and people were like how could you be sponsored by McDonald's and I'm like I've been eating done since I was a kid I still eat it I still I'm not sponsor man anymore I still eat it you know it's it's it doesn't it's congruent with my beliefs like it doesn't it doesn't change who I am it's not like I'm like I'm changing all my morals so that I get paid and I've turned stuff down I mean you know there was there was a tour I'm not gonna name names but there was a tour a long time ago sponsored by a tobacco company and I refused it who stood my ground you know but that just seems absurd to me that I would go promote a cigarette company that's crazy I've never changed my value system for for money ever to be honest like McDonald's they committed a large amount of money to the foundation through my association with them so through my endorsement with McDonald's I was able to build more public skate parks I was able to promote skating through marketing money that we would never have seen in in the ski industry in endemic to our sports so you know the fact that I got to show skateboarding to a whole new audience of people that are watching whatever that see it McDonald's commercial mom and skateboarding that may inspire them to start skating I mean that's always my motivation is just to represent skating well and to possibly get more people involved in it I think it's just more that the people are looking for you to somehow misrepresent skateboarding and when they see that then that's when they get really fired up I mean definitely they have their knee-jerk reaction that you can't be sponsored by this company or this company because they don't they're not from skateboarding they'll represent skateboarding like that that argument doesn't work anymore because most skateboard companies are just owned by some bigger corporation that probably didn't have anything do a skateboard when they started you know that's just how it is now everything was just getting eaten up and eaten up I say yeah I mean I say if you're if you're representing skateboarding in a positive light you're doing it right and and if you're using someone else's marketing dollars to do so more power to you you know with like we did Tony Hawk's Pro Skater I signed a contract I had no idea that that would be a big game or a game that would sell at all I just wanted skate as to be proud of it so I set out to you know make the tricks authentic make the locations fun make the challenges something that skaters appreciate and get a group of skaters that are well respected from and make it very diverse and so what I set out to do was say the first video game was something that I thought would inspire skaters to buy a Playstation that was all I had in my head was like skaters going to dig this so much they're gonna play video games and as it turned out you know it became this huge success it changed my life completely and with every succeeding game we tried to build upon that and bring in more people from the skate culture but still represent it well and and I'm hugely proud of it and I don't really need the money like I don't need the money anymore I made dream money from from video games like stuff that I did things I would never imagine you know when people say like is this what you dreamt I didn't dream any of this none of this was possible or even considered a reality when I was a kid you know when I started skating like the best you could hope for was your picture in a magazine maybe a pro board maybe and free gear that's it and then once you reach an ace of responsibilities and this is I'm talking about when I was like 12 once you reach an age of responsibility say 18 your career is over because you're not you can't make money doing it you can't do it into your adult life the jury is out obviously still if like well are you a sellout what is that you know Mountain Dew this like GoPro Nike hey all these guys still love skating they're not changing what they do because they have a mountain dew sticker on their board you know I mean if anything it's allowing them to do it better and into a bigger audience and maybe you know not have to find a job elsewhere like I had to supplement income when things were rough like doing video editing you know I was I was literally like I had video editing equipment and when things took a downturn skating like I was editing videos for tomahto and actually for like a video game company like with how ironic actually I've never thought about that that I was doing video video editing for turbo graphics and then I'm getting a video game myself and what I learned through that is that as a skater as someone who lives in this world and and knows the the authenticity of it and the culture of it and and has respect for it and in tech and wants to keep its integrity I told them look you can't put anything out there without my approval doesn't matter if it's even you know it's my whatever if I'm attached to it I have final say over it and I had to fight for that I'd to fight for it a lot you know and eventually as as skating grew and as as people started to respect it more I didn't have to fight for it as much and at some point I was like look I've had a probe I've had signature equipment with my name on it since I was 14 years old right it was not selling so certainly wasn't selling out and so what I've learned through this and I'm sure people have heard me say before you only get called a sellout when people buy your stuff you know you get called a sellout when stuff near stuff cells that's it and and is that bad like do you think that I've changed my tune or my motivation because I make money hell no look this this ramp right here cost me $600,000 right here and it is my death best thing I've ever bought I skied this thing almost every day you know and and it really has been one of the best things in my life like just the fact that I still get to skate obviously I'm here's the thankful to still be able to do this for living like this is this is what I love doing more than anything and I would do it for free like any day of the week you know at any given time I'd happily just go skate it just happens to be the thing that I'm successful at so I get to do what I love for living and that that's living the dream I mean in it living the dream I don't I'm not talking about financial success I'm talking about loving what you do you know if you love art and you do art and maybe you get a little bit of success at it you're living the dream I know there are so many kids out there that feel the way that I did when I was a kid just awkward and not excelling at one thing in particular and not cool and um ski boarding was my way out of that and I hope that if not with skateboarding they find it in something else they do but I hope that they're not afraid to try something different because you can't listen to the haters that's my best advice to anyone if I had listened to the haters I would have quit a long time ago I would have quit I was 11 years old like I used to get bashed by professional skaters because my style was was dorky or it was all circus it was you know but you can't you gotta believe in yourself skateboarding has given me a sense of identity a sense of self-confidence it's given me an unbelievable career it's given me a way to provide for my family and it's given me opportunities I never dreamed of traveling the world meeting incredible people going to events you know stuff that just never seemed possible and every day there's a new surprise you know every I still and stuff is happening that I can't believe that I get to participate in um but for me you know it just it just gave me it gave me my voice and I was a pretty scrawny kid that was unsure of himself and trying to fit in and it gave me this this unique voice and a way to express myself like nothing else you

Channel: The Berrics

Views: 1,242,474

Keywords: Tony Hawk (Organization Founder), Tony Hawk, Interview, Berrics, The Berrics (Structure), who you callin a sellout, Entrepreneur (Profession), BATB, BATB7, BATB8, Bangin, First Try Friday, Gram Yo Selfie, Off The Grid, Skate or Dice, On Lock, Trickipedia, Run & Gun, Battle Royale, Skateboarding (Sport), Skateboard (Sports Equipment), Skate, skating, video game, hawk, vert, business, sponsorship, corporate, money, how to get sponsored

Id: 2wv-SppeJCs

Length: 11min 50sec (710 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 27 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/ImHully]

Tony Hawk was so good for the skateboarding community. He's like a glass of whole milk. He lands the first ever 900, and is responsible for countless kids starting to skate due to THPS. The scene wouldn't be where it is today without him.

[u/Abe_Vigoda]

He still has to worry about being called a sellout?

I started skating in the 80s because of guys like Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi, Gonz, etc.

Skating back then was 'underground'. It was like a little community. The whole issue about selling out is because back then, skateboard stuff was made by skaters and mostly small companies.

Skating went corporate. Tony has nothing to apologize for. The industry was going to get taken over anyways while companies like Nike & Redbull used their massive ad budgets to align themselves into the scene.

Vans used to be made in the states. They were just running shoes but skaters liked them. Nowadays, they're made in places like Chinese factories. Their parent company owns a whole bunch of shoe and fashion companies so it's all mass produced.

Same with stuff like Nike. They're dirt cheap to make and they get sold for a lot.

It'd be good if skaters were supporting skater driven companies but that's not really all that easy.

[u/dinosbucket]

I could listen to Tony talk for hours.

[u/oakles]

Seems like one of the most genuine dudes ever.

[u/Runs_towards_fire]

A sellout??? He has devoted his entire life to advancing the sport of skateboarding. If you only respect the "underground" skaters then stop watching tv, videos, going to skate shops, get off the internet, Instagram, Facebook and hang out at that one set of stairs with the rail with that one dude with long hair who's brother sells you weed.

[u/[deleted]]

God damnit, someone fix his damn hoodie-drawstring. Classic Tony

[u/[deleted]]

Anyone calling Tony hawk a sellout clearly doesn't understand that term. Yeah, he made a lot of money, but that's not selling out. You have to sacrifice your principles in order to make money to be a sellout and he definitely didn't do that.

[u/Rosetti]

The idea of a skateboarding sellout seems really weird to me.

I always thought being a sellout was when you intentionally change your art in order to increase its mass appeal, in order to make more money.

I can kind of see how this could happen in skateboarding, I imagine manual tricks aren't considered as interesting as high air tricks to laymen (of which I am one) but even then, those are still very impressive.

[u/[deleted]]

if someone wants to give me money because I'm talented to represent their brand, and they aren't doing something sheisty like harboring slave labor/child labor, or something else morally repugnant, I'm pretty sure I don't give a fuck what you think because money.