After fourteen and a half years, Jason Alexander has issued an apology.
On Wednesday, the “Seinfeld” actor publicly apologized to Courtney Stodden for a controversial comedy sketch they filmed together. In the sketch, Alexander, then 52, inappropriately touched the 17-year-old Stodden’s breasts with a cell phone and made a suggestive comment about her turning 18.
“Reflecting on the comedy sketch with Ms. Stodden from 2012, I agree it was inappropriate and I deeply regret it,” Alexander stated to Variety. “More importantly, I am sincerely sorry for any harm or distress it caused Ms. Stodden. I offer my heartfelt apologies.”
The sketch, a parody titled “The Donny Clay Show” with Alexander portraying a sleazy talk-show host, was released in January 2012 on Funny or Die’s website and YouTube channel but has since been removed. Stodden appeared in the video with Doug Hutchison, who controversially married her in 2011 when she was 16 and he was 51. At the time, media largely mocked Stodden, overlooking Hutchison’s actions. Alexander’s apology came after Stodden, now 31 and divorced from Hutchison, posted on Instagram about feeling “alone” and exploited during the video shoot.
Stodden told Variety she was pleasantly surprised by Alexander’s accountability for the disturbing sketch, which he co-wrote. “I’m very taken aback that an adult was capable of taking accountability, as I haven’t seen many do so,” Stodden remarked. “His public apology was a welcome surprise; it’s the first step toward change. However, I believe he could take further action by supporting AB 1267 in California or donating to Unchained at Last.”
Recently, Stodden has been collaborating with Unchained at Last, the only U.S. nonprofit focused on ending child marriage, to advocate for California’s AB 1267, a bill that aims to set the legal marriage age to 18.
“It’s alarming that California has no minimum marriage age,” Stodden says. “Only Mississippi and New Mexico share this lack of regulation, and it’s shocking for California to be on that list.”
Regarding the Funny or Die sketch, Stodden realized its disturbing nature years later while watching “Pretty Woman” for the first time, specifically the scene where Jason Alexander’s character assaults Julia Roberts’ character.
“I was shocked,” she recalls of the “Pretty Woman” scene. “It felt strikingly familiar, as if he drew inspiration from it to mockingly recreate something similar with a minor. I didn’t know he would be touching me that way during filming.”
Stodden continues, “I was highly manipulated. Even if I didn’t appear to be a child, or what one imagines a ‘victim’ to look like, there was a child beneath the surface. I trusted the adults around me, and this is the result. Reflecting on it, the impact is deeply harmful. This isn’t about revisiting my past but about changing future experiences for minors so they don’t endure what I did.”
Despite receiving public apologies from Chrissy Teigen for cyberbullying and now Jason Alexander, Stodden has not received any apology from Dr. Drew Pinsky. At 16, Stodden underwent an ultrasound on her breasts on Pinsky’s show “Lifechangers” to prove they were real.
“Dr. Drew even went further, having his wife sarcastically invite me on his podcast to exploit me more,” Stodden recalls. “Receiving an apology from an actor but not a doctor feels diabolical.”
Stodden, along with other survivors involved with Unchained at Last, plans to visit the California State Capitol next month to advocate for ending child marriage in her home state. She is also working on finishing her memoir and may participate in a docuseries documenting her campaign to end child marriage.
“Ultimately, I don’t want to be remembered for what I went through,” Stodden states. “I want to be remembered for ensuring it doesn’t happen to another child.”
