Jason Alexander apologizes for 2012 sketch involving teenage Courtney Stodden
The actor expressed regret over a 2012 comedy sketch that featured Stodden when she was 17, after the media personality highlighted the segment as inappropriate.
Courtney Stodden, a reality-TV personality, posted on Instagram on Monday a still from a 2012 Funny or Die sketch that she appeared in with actor Jason Alexander when she was 17. The clip, a parody of daytime talk shows, showed Alexander’s character touching Stodden’s chest with a cellphone and making suggestive remarks. Stodden wrote that she was a minor at the time and that the contracts were signed by adults, questioning her ability to consent.
Alexander responded the following day, telling TMZ that he “completely agree[s] that it was inappropriate and I truly regret it,” and added that he was “deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms. Stodden.”
Stodden, who first gained attention in 2011 after marrying a much older actor at age 16, has since advocated against child marriage and media exploitation. She said she wants to use her platform to protect other children from similar situations.
"I don’t want to spend the rest of my life proving why what happened to me was wrong," she wrote on Instagram. "If my voice carries any weight today, I want to spend it where it matters most: changing what we accept, changing what we ignore, and changing the laws that decide whether children are protected or left to navigate adult decisions they were never capable of making."