Seinfeld star Jason Alexander is apologising for participating in an inappropriate comedy sketch with Courtney Stodden when she was just 17 years old.
After Stodden, now 31, drew attention to the 2012 Funny or Die sketch titled ‘The Don Clay Show with Courtney Stodden,’ Alexander admitted that he regrets his actions.
“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,” Alexander, 66, said in a statement on Tuesday, July 21, per Page Six.
“But more importantly, I am deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms. Stodden. I offer her my sincerest apologies,” he added.
A day prior, Stodden took to Instagram to draw attention to the fact that she was a minor when the skit was filmed.
She explained, “I was 17 years old in this photo. The older I get, the more impossible this is to understand. 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.”
Stodden noted that Alexander is listed as a co-writer on the sketch. Furthermore, her then-husband, Doug Hutchison, also starred in it and received the paycheck.
“As an adult, that fact has become harder — not easier — for me to understand. I was a monir. I didn’t have the legal power to decide whether I wanted to participate. The contracts were signed by adults. The paycheck went to Doug,” she wrote.
Stodden was just 16 years old when she married Hutchison, who was 51 at the time. Since their 2018 divorce, Stodden has been advocating for the passing of AB 1267, a bill that would set the minimum age of marriage to 18 with no exceptions in California.
