Rufus Hannah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rufus Hannah (1955), also known as Rufus the Stunt Bum, is an American advocate for homeless rights who became known for his role in the early Bumfights videos: in 2000, while himself a homeless alcoholic, he was paid $5 to be filmed running headfirst into a stack of milk crates ^[1]. He subsequently was filmed performing other "stunts" for the Bumfights videos, including having "BUMFIGHTS" tattooed on his knuckles, riding a shopping cart down a flight of stairs, ramming his head into steel doors so hard that he today suffers from epilepsy, and beating up Donnie Brennan, another homeless man, so badly that Brennan's leg was broken in two places and required the surgical insertion of a steel rod. Brennan, an army veteran, and Hannah (who was injured in basic training), were both paid an average of $10 per stunt, although on one occasion Brennan was paid $200 to have "BUMFIGHTS" tattooed on his forehead.

In 2002, Hannah and Brennan both testified in the criminal trials of the producers of Bumfights, on a number of charges, including the soliciting of felonies^[2]^[3]; the defendants were acquitted on the majority of charges and sentenced to community service for conspiring to stage an illegal fight (in 2005, they were sentenced to 6 months in prison for having failed to complete the community service).

Hannah and Brennan also filed a civil suit against the producers ^[4]^[5]; the producers agreed to pay an unspecified amount in damages, and to no longer use Hannah and Brennan's images for promotional purposes.

Hannah has been sober for over four years and is now a property manager. He spends 40 hours a week painting apartments, fences, and many other things. He hopes to one day to get the 'Bum Fights' tattoo removed from his knuckles.