Bubba Jackson, aka Jack Springer (his real name) started making Youtube videos at a young age. So young that Bubba Jackson was originally a screen name, required by his parents to keep him safe online. Seems that name stuck.

Disclaimer: This convo doesn’t mean I am running off to buy black nail polish or collab with a vape company, but you should read with an open mind. It’s honest about the current skateboarding climate and the realities of making a skate career pay in 2025. Alright, that’s all my caveats. Read away!

“Damn, I wanted to not like this, but I did.” seemed to be the widespread sentiment on Sonder 3. Are you used to these types of comments?
I’m used to it, it comes with the whole social media game. With me, Evon [Martinez] and Justin Ladner especially. We all have the biggest names for ourselves in social media and skateboarding, just speaking following-wise, so we get the most hate.

One of my favorite things, not just in skateboarding but in life, is proving people wrong. And seeing people say that, it’s a good feeling for sure. We know how to skateboard a little bit. We know how to do this thing. It’s funny to change people’s minds. I saw a comment, “I thought this kid was an Instagram-only skater, but he kinda kills it.” I’m like, “Oh, geez, thanks.” I’ve come out with a lot of parts over the past two years, but it’s fine. At least you semi like me now.

Considering the mixed comments you deal with, do you still have the desire for people to like you?
Everyone says this, but I know I’m not going to please everyone, and that’s not my goal. The video got 55K views in like a week, and that’s pretty good. I’ve been getting a lot of love for it, but that one shitty comment will linger and you’ll think about it. You just have to put it into perspective, like that is one person, and there’s a bunch of other people who love your shit. You just can’t think about it.

photo: Bailey Schreiner

How would you explain the divide between your crew and the “core” skaters of California?
This is a super common topic me and my friends talk about. It’s funny how fake skateboarding is. A random core dude will come up to me like, “Dude, you killed it, that was so sick.” and then you’ll hear from someone else that they were talking the most shit. But that’s LA for you. You have to take it at surface level.

I have a lot of haters that are core skaters. But I know it’s a part of the game. I don’t know if you heard about the whole thing that happened a couple of months ago, just drunk shit at the bar, but some people jumped my friends after talking shit on me. I can take it, but my friends confronted them about it and they jumped him. I get a lot of hate for the social media shit, but usually when they meet me and see that I can skate they think I’m nice and maybe a little bit cool.

How do you keep cool amongst all that?
You just got to know that it’s going to be there no matter what. No matter how much you’re winning, no matter what there will be hate. As long as you stay authentic, which sounds so corny, but if you want to watch yourself doing something, you should run with it. The hate will be there no matter what, especially in skateboarding.

“They put two influencers in the same Quartersnacks Top 10.
Boundaries have been broken.”

The reaction to Sonder 3 feels mostly positive. Do you think this video has come the closest to pleasing everyone?
I knew this one was going to be the best yet, and everyone seems pretty stoked on it. Thrasher, Berrics and Transworld posted it, so that’s the three big ones right there. Me and Evon also got on Quartersnacks Top 10. He got the number one, so that’s big. We were making fun of that like, “Hey, they put two influencers in the same Quartersnacks Top 10, let’s go.” Boundaries have been broken [laughs].

Where does your drive to film a full length come from when you could make a couple of Instagram reels and probably get more views?
I don’t know what I’d be doing if I wasn’t filming. I don’t get any satisfaction from filming iPhone stuff. Full lengths are kind of dead, but they are so fun to film, even just for premiere night. When it finally comes together you and all your friends get to experience that heartwarming feeling after two years of pain.

It’s also fun to go back and watch. A full length is 40 minutes or whatever, and if we’re all hanging out at a party or something we’ll just throw it on the tv. It’s not like we’d throw a reel up there [laughs]

“We want to be core skateboarders who are also tapped into the influencer side of things.”

What are your thoughts on the term “influencer.”
It’s just a funny ass word. We all joke around like, “Yeah, we’re influencers.” People have tried to do it in the past, and I think me and my group are doing a pretty good job, but we want to be core skateboarders who are also tapped into the influencer side of things.

For example, a good homie of mine, Chris Chann. People still look at him as an influencer, or a YouTube skater, and even though he’s filmed serious parts before I think people will always see him as representing the social media side. I’m trying to blend both, and I don’t think I’m doing a bad job so far.

We put out full lengths, we’re in the streets just as much as anyone else, but hey, we gotta make money, so as long as it’s not too crazy let’s do a brand deal or photoshoot.

You skated to a song Austyn Gillette made and you skate for his company Former.
Kissing ass much?
Yeah, I’m like, “Put me on.” Nah, since he started putting out music I genuinely like it. I think he sounds like Mac DeMarco, and I like Mac. That song was instrumental too, and all my friends didn’t know it was Austyn, and they all said that it fit perfectly in the section because I used it for a section that was all at one spot.

Once the video was out, there were accounts posting clips, and Austyn commented on it like, “I’m going to charge you for this.” He can take it out of my next box [laughs].

photo: Lucas Pantel

Compared to a lot of homie skate videos, the Sonder series racks in views. Is this because you’re pulling from a fanbase that’s outside of skateboarding?
That’s always been my goal with the Sonder series, actually every video that I put out. We have good enough skating so core skaters will think, “Oh, these kids can actually skate.” and then also at the same time, editing-wise, I’m trying to make it where a nonskater or a girlfriend or random parent who doesn’t skate at all will still be entertained watching the video. Whether that be the music, the personality, or the comedy.

I think Grant Yansura said this before, but when you’re editing, he tries to always have something going on at all times. No dead space, whether that be a trick, a bail, something funny, something to catch the eye. I think that’s especially important now with people’s short ass attention spans.

Speaking of Grant Yansura, do you have any other filmmaking influences?
Grant and WKND, ever since they started and the Weekendtages before that, even on the Berrics, I thought they were the best. Matt Bublitz is a big one as well because he’s from Huntington and he’s a filmer/skater. He and Tom K are such an awesome duo for me, and they rep Orange County pretty hard, which is cool.

“People say, ‘This is the highest tax bracket skate video,’ but none of us come from that at all.”

What’s the most Orange County thing about you?
That’s not good to say, “I’m hella Orange County” [laughs]. I mean, I wasn’t brought up wealthy, just really middle class. My parents didn’t struggle, but they weren’t “well off” by any means. I read on SLAP about the video, people saying, “This is the highest tax bracket skate video,” but none of us come from that at all.

Parents here always try to get their kids into skating or surfing. It’s a grom area. I started skateboarding when I was four or five, and there are photos of me in between my dad’s legs on a board. I guess that’s the most Orange County thing about me.

How would you describe the nightlife scene in LA?
It’s funny you say LA, because it’s true, we never go out in OC, it’s always LA. It depends on where you go though. We’re not club people, we usually go to bars, and usually in West Hollywood or Silverlake. It’s funny the skaters you see in certain places. There’s this bar in Silverlake that we go to a bunch, and sometimes it feels like Tampa Pro in there. There was one night I got there and there was [Alex] Midler, Kevin White, Zion [Wright], Ishod [Wair], and Christian Henry. So many skaters. And they’re all like, “Yo, what up Bubba.” Nightlife is always pretty chill usually. No hate, no drama. No skating involved. Midler did ask me for a spot while we were out though [laughs].

“There wasn’t one specific moment where I felt like ‘Oh, that’s where I blew up.’
It just happens over time.”

Looking back, when did you start to notice your follower count ticking up?
It’s hard to pinpoint. There were a few things that led up to that. I worked at Vans skatepark in Huntington Beach, and that’s how I met a lot of people in the industry. I left that job right when Covid hit. That was when Cariuma became a thing and Steve Berra called me and was like, “Hey, we want you to film for Cariuma.” I didn’t have to rep the brand or anything, but because I was already filming my friend Justin [Ladner] who was getting on Cariuma, he thought I could just go out with the rest of the team.

In typical Berra job drama that crumbled pretty fast, and at that time me and Justin were hanging out a lot and we started posting random videos to TikTok, and they blew up. We started meeting more influencer-y type people, and at the same time we were coming up a little in skateboarding, so it was a mix of both at the same time. I think we just had a couple of videos do well on social media. I had this one lipslide clip on that curved ledge at UCLA, and that was what got me the most following, clout, whatever you want to say. That clip went in Sonder 1, and that video did so well partly because of that viral clip.

We started to do more brand deals and meet more people and it just moved on up from there. There wasn’t one specific moment where I felt like “Oh, that’s where I blew up.” It just happens over time.

I heard that Steve Berra bought you a Prius. What’s the story there?
That went with the Cariuma job. He asked me what car I would like, and I told him I’d want a Prius. We went skating and he said, “Alright, would you film for Cariuma and the Berrics if I gave you a car and X amount a month?” and I’m like, “Probably.” That’s what happened. He bought the car, I had it briefly, then when the job ended he texted me out of the blue, “My daughter’s going to come pick up the car. You’re done.” He didn’t even do it himself. He had his daughter come and pick up the car from my house.

photo: Ben Karpinski

When you agreed to film for Cariuma, did you know about people’s negative opinions of the brand?
100%, and that’s why I made it clear that I didn’t want to rep the brand at all. All I had to do was film behind the scenes. My face was never associated with it at all. I was getting Converse at that time for skating. And not a lot of people knew that I was doing stuff with it at all. Justin got hate for it, but he doesn’t regret it, I know that. They paid him the bag, and he got to travel the world and skate with people he liked to skate with.

Do you think Berra deserves the reputation he has?
It’s a mix. Obviously, I dealt with the same bullshit that a lot of other people who worked for him did and that stuff’s a little weird, but as a person he’s a nice dude. He’s not weird at all. I’ve even been to his house for meetings, and it’s nothing crazy. He’s fully self-aware about all the Scientology shit, and he jokes about the fake spot stuff. He told me, “I still to this day get so much shit for making fake spots in Skate More and Mindfield. People use it as a scapegoat to talk shit on me when they actually don’t like me because of my Scientology beliefs.” That’s what he said, word for word.

Do you ever think about these brand deals and how they could dilute the “coolness” factor out of skateboarding? I think that’s why people hate that type of stuff because they’re trying to protect skateboarding’s culture.
People are starting to realize that there’s no money in skateboarding, and everyone either has another job or is doing something on the side. A brand manager told me this the other day, that a lot of dudes my age are going to hate, but they are going to do exactly what we’re doing in a couple of years.

It’s starting to become apparent, and everyone’s going to figure it out eventually. I get to do what I love and get paid for it, it’s just not exactly the same traditional way as it’s been in the past. Even core skateboarders are starting to do YouTube and brand deals now. Pedro Delfino has a YouTube now, and no one talks shit on him.

“I’m fully self-aware of how everything looks. I’m not oblivious to why everyone is hating on me, but hey, we all have to make money somehow.”

But unlike Pedro, people might feel like you haven’t been in the game long enough to deserve these deals and the ability to do YouTube.
Yeah, people probably hate for that reason, but a lot of people hate more out of jealousy. They’re trying to skate for this core company who’s going to pay them $100 a month, when I could get product from the same company and also go do a stupid brand deal with American Eagle and get $3,000, you know what I mean? I’m fully self-aware of how everything looks. I’m not oblivious to why everyone is hating on me, but hey, we all have to make money somehow. Would you rather work a nine to five or get to do what you love to do for a living?

There is a certain skateboarder who’s pretty popular and would talk a lot of shit on me, and now he’s the one posting funny reels and TikToks, which are hilarious by the way, but it’s the same thing. You can maybe guess who that is, I don’t know.

Have you ever done a brand deal that you regretted?
There are definitely some that are better than others. I did a vape one in the past and I don’t vape at all. I didn’t hit the thing once, but I was down bad at the time. I texted the people like, “Do I even have to hit it in the video?” and they said no, so I just skated with it in my hand and they paid me. It got a ton of hate, but whatever. People probably forgot about it until I just reminded them.

How much money are you making on these deals?
It depends on what brand it is and how many followers you have. It also depends on what it is. There are some deals where it’s just a music label who hits you up like, “Hey, we have this artist releasing this song. Use it in a TikTok and we’ll pay you $500.” and it’s super easy. There are also more complex ones, like clothing companies that will be like, “We’re going to send you our new line. Post three reels and two TikToks for a package deal of $5,000.” The deliverables and price vary depending on a bunch of things.

“A lot of that ‘Eboy’ shit has passed.”

If this notion of selling out does disappear, do you think you’ll lose out because better skaters will start to take your deals?
I don’t know. My crew was kind of ahead of the curve, and we probably have more of a following than most core skaters do anyway. I’m super good friends with the McClung brothers, and Trent and Trevor have way more followers number-wise, but I’ll get recognized a little more when we’re out.

How do you disprove or avoid the TikTok boy allegations?
I think I’ve proved myself over time, and a lot of that “Eboy” shit has passed.

I mean, Justin Ladner still has some pretty heinous fits in the video at times.
Justin does go crazy with that, but he’s way more tapped in and trying to do the social media side than I am. He posts more non-skate videos, and he knows that. He’s not trying to be a full skater. He does his thing, and I’m not going to stop him. We all have our own looks.

photo: Lucas Pantel

A funny thing influencers do is hang with each other and they make content together. Is there an aspect of this at play with your friend group and the people that make it into your video?
No, and that’s actually why we called the video series Sonder. None of us came together for that reason. We all organically came together and became a friend group. If you look up the meaning of Sonder it’s about how every single passerby on the street is going through their own thing, and you may think you’re a main character in your own life but you’re an extra in someone else’s. Everyone goes through the same struggles and has their own plotline, it makes them all individual. The way our friend group organically came together the name made sense.

“All the brand deal stuff isn’t necessarily new.
Tony Hawk was doing this 30 years ago.”

Do you guys ever check each other, like “Oh, you probably shouldn’t go that far or work with that brand.”?
We always talk shit to each other. We’ll send each other’s posts to the group chat like, “Really?” but that’s just a part of it.

When you sign on to a brand deal, are you vetting these companies? Do you think about their impact on skateboarding?
I don’t see myself as needing to do that necessarily, but it depends. If some random company that I’ve never heard of hits me up, I do a little bit of research before I accept the money because I don’t want to support the brand and then realize they repped something I don’t fuck with.

Skating will always be cool. I mean it’s getting more mainstream, and it’s been growing in the past few years like crazy, but all the brand deal stuff isn’t necessarily new. Tony Hawk was doing this 30 years ago.

Did you ever attempt to pursue a “core career”?
100%. I’ve had companies that wanted to send me stuff, but they wanted to get the OK from the whole team before they did. It’s funny, I won’t name the teams, but it happened twice. One of them was my dream sponsor, and all the older dudes said yes, they fucked with me, and all the dudes my age were like, “Nah, fuck that.” And the team is pretty big, so it’s hard to get everyone on board.

My shop sponsor and the flow from Former have nothing to do with the social media stuff, and I get Converse for skateboarding. But honestly, if Cons were to give me a contract I’d rather it be for the influencer side than the skateboarding side because there’s probably a bigger budget [laughs].

When I think of Evon and Blake Norris, it’s kind of a tragedy they don’t have solid board sponsors.
Yeah, it’s the biggest theme we talk about with Evon. It’s kind of fucked, and who knows, maybe this interview will help. He’s had multiple board sponsors in the past, but nothing has been solid. We were talking about it the other day with Ian [Ostrowski] about how we all kind of just gave up on trying to get a board sponsor. We’re just homie flow with a lot of people. It’s all politics. Blake’s been flow for SciFi for a while, but I don’t know if they’ll do anything with him, which is crazy, because he’d be one of the best on the team.

“Knowing there’s no money in skateboarding, and knowing that we have more of a following than their entire brand does, why would you not use us as a tool?”

Do you think some of the social media stuff that Evon and you do holds you guys back?
I’m less frustrated for myself than I am for someone like Evon. He deserves it more than anyone, and I said it at my premiere, I’ve said it a billion times and I’ll say it again, he’s genuinely one of the best skateboarders in the world. And everyone who knows him and sees him skate knows that too. I don’t think he gets the respect, product, or pay that he deserves, but we get it.

If we both came up doing no social media stuff, we’re both good enough to where if a company looked at us they’d be like, “Yeah.” I don’t think it should be this way, and if the businesses were smart, knowing there’s no money in skateboarding, and knowing that we have more of a following than their entire brand does, why would you not use us as a tool? But if they want to maintain an image and think we will tarnish that, that’s their decision.

photo: Anthony Smith

I’ll end on this because it keeps coming up in my head. Is the money worth the shit you have to take?
For sure. Not that I get paid crazy, but I’m better off than a lot of people who probably push themselves a lot harder with skateboarding. You can’t just be a skateboarder these days, you have to do other things, and if you’re going to do the social media stuff, you have to be thick-skinned.

Intro and Interview by: Ben Komins
Header image courtesy of: Lucas Pantel
Photos courtesy of: Anthony Smith, Ben Karpinski, and Bailey Schreiner
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