Tony Hawk kicked out while celebrating video game anniversary

Even skateboarding legend Tony Hawk isn’t above the law — or at least the security guards of one of Los Angeles’ most iconic town squares.

The 58-year-old professional skater revealed Friday that he was kicked out of Pershing Square while filming a nostalgic homage to his legendary video game, “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.”

“Fun fact: We got kicked out of Pershing Square during filming today,” Hawk wrote on Instagram, alongside a video recreating scenes from the classic game, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The clip shows Hawk rolling through the landmark in downtown Los Angeles, skating past its iconic red spheres and a nearby car wash before video game imagery takes over.

The video game character then does stunts and flips, something that real-life Tony Hawk doesn’t show, perhaps because he’s now 58 and has officially retired from the sport.

The incident also raised the possibility that security simply didn’t recognize the skateboarding icon, who has become something of an Internet meme for repeatedly encountering people who don’t believe he’s actually Tony Hawk.

“Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3” was released in North America on October 30, 2001 and eventually sold approximately 7.53 million copies worldwide.

The game was a landmark release for the franchise, becoming the first installment to feature online play and introduce revert, a trick that allowed players to chain together vert combos by linking landings in a quarterpipe with manuals.

A remake was later included in 2025’s “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4”.

Social media users went all out with the skateboarding superstar’s apparent run-ins with plaza security.

“Security has been waiting their entire lives today,” one person joked.

Another made fun of a meme around Tony Hawk, famous for recounting incidents where people don’t recognize him or don’t fully believe he’s Tony Hawk.