Seinfeld alum Jason Alexander has apologized for an inappropriate 2012 comedy sketch filmed with Courtney Stodden when she was 17 years old. The public acknowledgment prompted Stodden, now an activist, to urge the actor to support California legislation aimed at banning child marriage.
Jason Alexander Issues Apology to Courtney Stodden
It took fourteen and a half years, but Jason Alexander finally apologized. On Wednesday, the “Seinfeld” actor issued a public apology to Courtney Stodden for a “comedy” sketch the two filmed together wherein Alexander, who was 52 at the time, fondled a 17-year-old Stodden’s breasts with a cell phone and said that when she turned 18, he would take her behind the couch and have his way with her. 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 said in a statement to Variety. But more importantly, I am deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms. Stodden. I offer her my sincerest apologies.
The Donny Clay Show Sketch on Funny or Die
The sketch, a parody of “Dr. Phil” dubbed The Donny Clay Show
with Alexander playing a creepy talk-show host, was released in Jan. 2012 on the Funny or Die website and its YouTube channel (it has since been taken down). Stodden is featured in the video alongside Doug Hutchison, a journeyman actor who notoriously married her in 2011 when he was 51 and she only 16. At the time, the media mainly treated Stodden as a punchline while failing to hold Hutchison accountable for his predation. Alexander gave his apology after Stodden, who is now 31 and divorced from Hutchison, made an Instagram post recounting how “alone” and exploited she felt making that video.
Courtney Stodden Urges Jason Alexander to Support AB 1267
Stodden tells Variety she was pleasantly surprised that Alexander took responsibility for his role in the disturbing sketch, which he also co-wrote, but could take it a step further. I’m very taken aback that an adult was actually able to take accountability because I haven’t heard a lot of adults take accountability,
Stodden explains. “When I first got word that he publicly apologized I was grateful because I think that’s the first step in change. At the same time, I think it would be even better if he put that into action, so I would urge Jason Alexander to support AB 1267 and support what’s happening in California or even donate to Unchained at Last.”
Unchained at Last and California AB 1267
Recently, Stodden has been working with the group Unchained at Last, the only nonprofit in the U.S. dedicated to ending child marriage, to convince California to pass AB 1267, a bill that would effectively ban child marriage by making the legal minimum age to wed 18 years old. It’s really frightening that there’s no minimum age for someone to get married in California,
Stodden asserts. There are only two other states that allow this, Mississippi and New Mexico, and to think that California allows this is shocking.