Jason Alexander has issued a public apology to Courtney Stodden after she used her Instagram platform to speak out about a Funny or Die comedy sketch the two filmed together in 2012 — when Stodden was 17 years old.
Alexander confirmed he was one of the writers on the episode, which parodied Dr. Phil and other daytime talk shows. The sketch featured Alexander repeatedly rubbing a cellphone across Stodden’s chest under the premise of searching for a mobile signal — and at one point made a joke about waiting until she turned 18 to pursue something further with her. Alexander released a statement to Variety in which he acknowledged the sketch was inappropriate, expressed genuine regret, and offered Stodden his sincere apologies for any harm or distress the content caused her.
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Stodden’s Account
Stodden’s original Instagram post laid out the full context of the situation in stark terms. She was 17 at the time of filming. She did not have the legal capacity to sign the contracts that put her in that room — those were signed by adults on her behalf. The payment for her appearance went to her then-husband Doug Hutchison, whom she had married the previous year at 16 years old when he was 51. She described feeling entirely alone as the only minor on set while adults around her moved the production forward without apparent concern for her age.
Looking back at the material now, Stodden said she does not see comedy. She sees a 17-year-old girl whose body was made the subject of an adult joke on a professional set, by people who were fully aware of how old she was.
She also addressed the response she frequently receives — that she chose to be there — by pointing out that legally, she could not have made that choice for herself. The adults in the room made it for her.
The Broader Advocacy
Stodden used the post as an opportunity to speak to something larger than her own experience. She is currently advocating in California for the passage of AB1267, a bill that would establish 18 as the legal minimum age for marriage in the state, removing existing exemptions that currently allow younger marriages with parental or judicial approval. Her own marriage to Hutchison at 16 has been central to her public advocacy on the issue for years.
Her closing message was directed not just at those who dismissed her experience but at the systems that allowed it — calling for stronger legal protections for children before they are old enough to recognize that those protections should have been there all along.
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