Jason Alexander apologises to Courtney over 2012 sketch
Jason Alexander has issued a public apology to Courtney Stodden after she called out a 2012 Funny or Die sketch filmed when she was 17. The Seinfeld actor said the sketch was inappropriate and that he truly regrets it. Stodden appreciated the Jason Alexander apology but wants private remorse and child-marriage reform support.
Key Takeaways
- Jason Alexander apologised for a 2012 Funny or Die sketch with then-17-year-old Courtney Stodden, calling it inappropriate.
- In the skit, Alexander rubbed a phone on Stodden's breasts and made suggestive remarks about when she turned 18.
- Stodden said she was a minor who lacked legal power to consent and felt she was the only child in the room.
- She welcomed his public apology but said he has not apologised privately and urged support for ending child marriage via AB 1267.
What did Jason Alexander apologise for?
US actor Jason Alexander, best known as George Costanza on Seinfeld, apologised after Courtney Stodden resurfaced a 2012 Funny or Die sketch. According to the BBC, the parody of daytime talk shows showed Alexander rubbing a mobile phone on Stodden's breasts, saying there was "plenty of signal" there.
Stodden wrote on Instagram that he later joked that when she turned 18 he'd like to take her behind the couch and "have his way" with her. She noted Alexander was credited as one of the writers. Looking back, she said she does not see comedy but "a 17-year-old girl whose body became part of an adult joke."
In a statement to US outlets including Variety, Alexander said: "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. But more importantly, I am deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms Stodden. I offer her my sincerest apologies."
Why is Courtney Stodden speaking out now?
Stodden, now 31, said the older she gets, the more impossible the sketch is to understand. She argued she was a minor without the legal power to decide whether to participate and felt "so alone" as the only child in the room.
"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?" she wrote. The Guardian reported Alexander was 52 when the sketch was filmed.
Her comments sit within a wider campaign against child marriage. Stodden married actor Doug Hutchison in 2011 at 16; the marriage was legal with parental permission. They divorced in 2020. Marrying at 16 or 17 remains legal in 33 US states with parental consent or a judicial waiver.
Has Courtney accepted the Jason Alexander apology?
Stodden told the Hollywood Reporter she appreciated Alexander's public apology. She added that people keep asking if he has apologised privately, and he has not. "A private apology would be meaningful, but meaningful action would be even more powerful," she said.
She invited him to support campaign group Unchained At Last and California bill AB 1267 to end child marriage. "That's how we turn accountability into lasting change," she said. For more strange and viral celebrity fallout, browse our Bizarre News & Florida Man coverage.
Alexander also appeared in ER, Pretty Woman and Shallow Hal. Stodden has appeared on reality shows including Couples Therapy, Celebrity Big Brother and Celebs Go Dating.