Jason Alexander apologises to Courtney Stodden over inappropriate 2012 sketch filmed when she was 17

The 'Seinfeld' actor expressed regret for a 2012 'Funny or Die' sketch, with Stodden calling for further action

Jason Alexander has issued an apology to Courtney Stodden for an inappropriate 2012 Funny or Die sketch filmed when she was 17.

The Seinfeld actor said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter, "Looking back at the comedy sketch in which Ms. Stodden and I participated in 2012, I completely agree that it was inappropriate and I truly regret it."

He added, "But more importantly, I am deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms. Stodden. I offer her my sincerest apologies."

In a follow-up statement shared with THR after Alexander's apology was reported, Stodden said, "I appreciate Jason Alexander’s public apology. People keep asking if he’s apologized privately, and he hasn’t. A private apology would be meaningful, but meaningful action would be even more powerful."

She continued, "If he truly regrets what happened, I’d invite him to support Unchained at Last and the fight to end child marriage through AB 1267. That’s how we turn accountability into lasting change."

In a Monday Instagram post, Stodden shared a photo from the sketch in which Alexander had a phone over her breast while she wore a red bikini top.

 

 

 

 

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"I was 17 years old in this photo," Stodden wrote in a lengthy caption. "During this comedy sketch, Jason Alexander repeatedly rubbed his phone across my breasts while saying there was 'no signal' in my head but 'plenty of signal' in my chest. Later in the sketch, he joked that when I turned 18 he’d like to take me behind the couch and 'have his way' with me."

Stodden said she was "the only child in the room" and "didn’t have the legal power to decide" whether she "wanted to participate" in the first place.

She also revealed that her paycheck for the sketch went to her then-husband Doug Hutchison.

"Looking back now," she wrote, "I don’t see comedy. I see a 17-year-old girl whose body became part of an adult joke. People still say, 'You chose to be there.' Legally, I couldn’t make those decisions for myself. That’s the point."

Stodden famously married actor Hutchison in 2011 when he was 51 and she was 16, and has since become an advocate against child marriage.

The couple separated in 2017 and finalised their divorce in 2020.

She concluded, "I can’t change what happened to me but I can ask myself: How did so many adults look at a minor and decide this was acceptable? That’s exactly why I speak out today. Children deserve laws that protect them."