“Seinfeld” alum Jason Alexander has apologized to reality star Courtney Stodden after he accused her on Instagram of filming an inappropriate comedy sketch when she was underage. Stodden was 17 when he filmed a sketch with Alexander for “Funny or Die,” a parody of “Dr. Phil” and other daytime talk shows. The sketch, published online in 2012, shows Ms Alexander rubbing her cell phone against Ms Stodden’s chest. That’s because it was the only area with a “sufficient signal.”
“Looking back at the comedy skit that Ms. Stodden and I participated in in 2012, I completely agree that it was inappropriate and truly regret it,” Alexander said in a statement to Variety. “But more importantly, we are deeply sorry for the harm and distress we have caused Ms. Stodden. We extend our sincere apologies to her.”
TMZ was the first media outlet to publish Alexander’s statement.
“In this photo, I was 17 years old. The older you get, the more impossible it is to understand this. During this comedy sketch, Jason Alexander repeatedly rubbed his cell phone against my chest and said that in my head, I had ‘no signal,’ but in my chest, I had ‘plenty of signals.'” Later in the sketch, he joked that when I turn 18, he wants to take me behind the couch and ‘take what’s his.’ IMDb states that he is one of the writers of this episode, which made it hard for me to understand. I had no legal authority to decide whether I wanted to participate or not. I was the only child in the room.
“When I look back on it now, it doesn’t feel like a comedy. I see a 17-year-old girl whose body has become part of an adult joke,” Stodden continued. “People still say, ‘You chose to be there.’ Legally, I couldn’t have made that decision for myself. That’s the point. You can’t change what happened to you, but you can ask yourself, ‘How can so many adults choose to be there? And that’s why I’m speaking out today. Children should have laws to protect them. They shouldn’t have to grow up to realize that the laws were protecting them all along.”
Stodden is currently advocating for California to pass AB1267, a bill that would ban child marriage by setting the legal minimum age to 18. Stodden married 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchison in 2011 when she was just 16 years old.
