Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of child marriage.Jason Alexander, most famously known for portraying George Costanza in ‘Seinfeld’, has formally apologised to media personality Courtney Stodden over his comments on an old skit show. Alexander was credited as one of the skit’s writers at the time and performed it with Stodden. He shared a statement, looking back at the distasteful skit and the comments he had made about her, who had still been a minor at the time, and shared just how much he regretted his past actions. The apology comes after Courtney shared a photo from the show and called him and the creators out for allowing that to happen to her when she was still a minor.
‘Seinfeld’ star Jason Alexander issues apology to Courtney Stodden over past comments
In 2012, while performing the ‘Funny or Die’ sketch, Alexander had made explicit and suggestive comments about Stodden while she was still a minor. Looking back at the instance on Monday, Stodden had shared a post on her Instagram account about the matter, while sharing it along with a photo from the skit. She had written, “Looking back now, 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. 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 also wrote that she was a minor at the time and lacked the power to make decisions for herself. Not only that, but she also listed out that all of the contracts had been signed by adults, and whatever earnings she got directly went to her 51-year-old husband, Doug Hutchison, at the time. She further added, “That’s exactly why I speak out today. Children deserve laws that protect them. They shouldn’t have to become adults before realising the law should have protected them all along.”Following online backlash, the ‘Seinfeld’ actor issued an official statement to share his remorse over the matter. He stated to Fox News Digital, “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.”
About ‘Seinfeld’ star Jason Alexander’s 2012 skit show about Courtney Stodden
Back in 2012, Alexander was a part of the ‘Funny or Die’ sketch, which was titled ‘The Donny Clay Show with Courtney Stodden’, at the time when Stodden had only been 17 years old. A year prior, she had made headlines for the first time after getting married to ‘The Green Mile’ actor Doug Hutchison, who was 51 at the time. In the skit, Stodden wore a red two-piece while the ‘Seinfeld’ actor played a daytime TV doctor interviewing her and her husband.Alexander, during one of the segments of the skit, put his phone on her chest and commented that he was getting “plenty of signal” from there. Later, he did the same gesture to her forehead and commented that he was “not getting anything.” He had also passed another crude and explicit remark about wanting to “have at [her] in a number of ways” behind the couch of the show’s set.Stodden and Hutchison filed for divorce in 2020, following which Stodden has been quite vocal about advocating for children’s rights and being against child marriage.