For The Win
Top SUPREME, pants TOMBOGO, Vest CANADA GOOSE, jacket STONE ISLAND, hat DIESEL, shoes ON RUNNING, necklaces MARTINE ALI
Ashtray is one of those characters who let us know who he was in his first lines, and has never betrayed us since: “I’m just trying to stack my cash, pay off my mortgage, so what the fuck you want?” In a flashback we see him as a baby, trying to eat cigarette butts—that’s how he earned his nickname. Face-tattooed and fiercely loyal by nature, Ashtray is violent and decisive, guided by passion. And his allure comes from his sacrosanct devotion.
Ashtray will do anything to protect Fezco, his violence and drive to protect this chosen family has the same virtue that sends a bee towards a flower, or a flower to the sun—he does it because it’s what you do, because it’s good, and we love to watch it. Saint Ashtray. I wanted to know about the little legend behind the character, so we met up over Zoom, where he dialed in from his hometown of Atlanta, GA. By his telling, embodying Ashtray was a phenomenal first role, and he’s fallen in love with acting as much as his love for boxing—his Instagram bio says ‘Boxer first,’ and he accepted my offer to go to a boxing class in NYC with me next time he’s in town. I asked if acting or boxing came first for him. “I want to excel at the highest point in both,” he said.
Left: Top and shorts WILLY CHAVARRIA, shoes SEBAGO, sunglasses FLATLIST. Right: Top FILIPPA K, Vest 424, pants and jacket DRIES VAN NOTEN, jacket 424
Now, at age 15, a day in the life for Javon looks a little different: home-school, a cardio workout session, more school, more boxing, then he does media and other acting-related tasks, before finding some time for himself. A free day means sleeping, hanging out with friends and watching Bojack Horseman. He doesn’t have time to get into video games, he said. But he does listen to Giveon and Kendrick Lamar, trains to Drake and pretty much likes to keep it chill. Since his life is not very normal for a 15-year-old, I asked if he had any unusual hobbies or characteristics people might want to know about. “I’m into crypto now, and the NFT world, stuff like that, everyone’s talking about it. I don’t know if it’s unusual,” he told me. He’s developing a project with NFT collective Toxic Skulls Club.
Left: Top TELFAR, jacket ENTIRE STUDIOS, necklace MARTINE ALI, sunglasses FLATLIST. Right: Top, pants, shoes BALENCIAGA, sunglasses FLATLIST
Javon is clean cut, with a big, bright smile—I don’t notice any of Ashtray’s signature tattoos on our Zoom call, facial or otherwise. He’s friendly, super polite, and I can see how he landed roles on Amazon’s Utopia and The Umbrella Academy. He also voiced Pugsley Addams in last year’s The Addams Family 2. As for the future of his first character, Ashtray’s arc met its heartbreaking end in the season finale, exchanging rounds from his tub with a SWAT team. “If I’m just keeping it a buck with y’all, I don’t know if he is or if he’s not [dead],” Javon said. “I really hope [Euphoria director] Sam [Levinson] brings me back. There’s no body, there’s no blood... People survive all the time being shot and if there’s one person who could survive, it’s Ashtray.”
Left: Vest RHUDE, shorts MARTINE ROSE, shoes BARRAGAN, necklaces MARTINE ALI. Right: Top SUPREME, hat DIESEL, necklaces MARTINE ALI
