Jason Momoa Reveals Why He Shaved His Beard

Jason Momoa is speaking out about his decision to shave his iconic beard, which he had been growing since 2012.

The Game of Thrones alum appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show for the first time on Wednesday, May 8, where he not only showed off his axe-throwing skills, but also opened up about his decision to finally shave his beard last month.

“I’m Aquaman now and I have all these little beautiful kids come up to me, and I never thought I’d be a role model,” he told the talk show host. “I wanted to kind of save the planet from single use plastics. I was looking at all these statistics where it’s like, 91 percent of all the plastics we’re using aren’t recyclable.”

The actor made shockwaves on social media and sent fans into a frenzy after he shared a video on his YouTube channel in April documenting the process of transforming from heavily bearded to clean-shaven.

“Goodbye DROGO, AQUAMAN, DECLAN, BABA!” Momoa captioned the video. “I’m shaving this beast off, it’s time to make a change. A change for the better…for my kids, for your kids, the world. Let’s make a positive change for the health of our planet. Let’s clean up our oceans and our land. Join me on this journey. Let’s make a switch to INFINITELY RECYCLABLE aluminum. Water in cans, NOT plastic.”

In the video, he had explained that the stunt was a charitable endeavor to raise awareness for the harmful effects of single-use plastic water bottles while launching his new line of canned water with Ball Corporation, which boasts 100 percent recyclable aluminum cans.

“I just want to do this to bring awareness that plastics are killing our planet,” he said. “About 75 percent of all aluminum that’s ever been used is still in circulation today and it’s 100 percent recyclable, so you drink the can and in about 60 days, it’ll be back. 100 percent infinitely recyclable.”

“I’m on a quest. My journey,” he added. “I got something new that I want to show you. Still alkaline sparkling spring water. Still water, but I feel good about it, so I’m gonna recycle this and know that we can recycle it. It can be a can in 60 days. The rest of its life.”

Prior to the abrupt makeover, Momoa, who is best known for his roles as Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones and the titular role in Aquaman, had not so much as brought scissors to his beard since 2012.