Jaeden Pinder
View all posts by Jaeden Pinder July 22, 2026
Jason Alexander in 2025 in Washington, DC. Jemal Countess/Getty Images Seinfeld star Jason Alexander has apologized to reality TV star Courtney Stodden for his participation in an inappropriate comedy sketch which was filmed when she was a minor, saying he “truly regret[s]” his actions.
The sketch in question, titled “The Donny Clay Show with Courtney Stodden,” was produced by Funny or Die and satirized daytime talk shows like Dr. Phil and Maury. Alexander plays the host Clay and interviews Stodden and her then-husband actor Doug Hutchison. Toward the middle of the sketch, Alexander rubs an iPhone on Stodden’s breasts claiming the area had “plenty of signal.” He then puts the phone on her forehead and claims a weak signal strength and makes crude remarks about wanting to “have at [her] in a number of ways” behind the set’s couch. Stodden was 17 at the time.
Stodden resurfaced the sketch after posting about an image from it on July 20. “The older I get, the more impossible this is to understand,” she wrote on Instagram. “IMDb credits him as one of the writers of the episode … I didn’t have the legal power to decide whether I wanted to participate. The contracts were signed by adults. The paycheck went to [my ex-husband Doug Hutchison]. The production moved forward. I was the only child in the room. I felt so alone.”
She continued, “People still say, ‘You chose to be there.’ Legally, I couldn’t make those decisions for myself. That’s the point. I can’t change what happened to me but I can ask myself: How did so many adults look at a minor and decide this was acceptable? That’s exactly why I speak out today. Children deserve laws that protect them. They shouldn’t have to become adults before realizing the law should have protected them all along.”
“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 told TMZ. “But more importantly, I am deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms. Stodden. I offer her my sincerest apologies.”
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Stodden got married to 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison in 2011; she was 16 at the time, and their union sparked intense scrutiny. They officially divorced in 2020.
