During a recent screening of Avatar: Fire and Ash, theatergoers were blindsided by a trailer for Sony’s upcoming animated film GOAT, which features a bizarre and explicit homage to Jackass 2—specifically, a scene where children use a tube to force-feed a fart into a sleeping character’s face.
A Disturbing Preview at the AMC
The incident occurred this past weekend when my wife and I arrived at our local AMC 15 minutes before the scheduled start time of Avatar: Fire and Ash, only to find the trailers already in progress. We were greeted by a preview for GOAT, a basketball-themed film featuring talking animals that appears to be a Zootopia-style production. About one minute and 49 seconds into the trailer, the tone shifted abruptly: two young rhino characters were depicted using a tube and a gas mask to funnel flatulence directly into the face of a sleeping monkey character.
The Double Take: Confirming the Gross-Out Gag
Initially, I questioned my own eyes. While fart jokes are a staple of the children’s animation genre, the specificity of this stunt—recreating the infamous “fart mask” prank from Jackass 2—felt jarringly out of place. I dismissed the moment as a fever dream, moving on to enjoy the main feature. However, a technical glitch at the theater forced a restart of the entire pre-show sequence, including the trailers. This granted me an unwanted second viewing of the footage, confirming that, yes, the trailer for GOAT truly includes a scene of children performing a gross-out prank, complete with the victim retching in reaction.
Crossing the Line of Family Entertainment
I am certainly no prude; I have a genuine appreciation for the Jackass franchise and recognize the place of slapstick humor in film. However, there is a distinct difference between a standard animated fart joke and a calculated recreation of adult-oriented “gross-out” stunts. It appears the creators of GOAT were desperate to push the boundaries of juvenile humor, but in doing so, they have landed on something that feels distinctly uncomfortable for a family-friendly film.
At this point, it is reasonable to request a bit more transparency. If future trailers are going to feature children emulating extreme stunts from Jackass, perhaps a heads-up for the audience is in order.
