'Cobra Kai' Actor Martin Kove Apologizes for Biting Co-Star
Cobra Kai actor Martin Kove has apologized for biting co-star Alicia Hannah-Kim during a fan event last weekend, per Variety.
The incident occurred while Hannah-Kim and Kove were both in attendance at Summer Con in Puyallup, WA, last weekend. Hannah-Kim told officers at the event that when she approached Kove and tapped him on the shoulder to say hello, the actor turned and bit her on the arm “so hard he nearly drew blood.” After Hannah-Kim screamed in pain, Kove apparently began kissing her arm where he had bit her. She and her husband confronted Kove, who reportedly “exploded on them, saying something to the effect of how dare they confront him.”
When confronted by police, Kove told officers that he bit Hannah-Kim in an effort to be “funny,” explaining that they “play fight all the time on the set of Cobra Kai.” Kove was asked to leave the venue. Hannah-Kim declined to press charges, but “wished to have a report filed in case this continues.”
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On June 24, Kove released a statement apologizing for his behavior.
“I deeply regret and apologize for my actions regarding the incident with Alicia (Hannah-Kim), a genuinely kind and wonderful person who didn’t deserve to be put in this position,” Kove said in a statement released to Variety by Jaffe & Co. Crisis Management. “I’ve always respected her and considered her a highly professional and talented co-worker on Cobra Kai. I was being playful in the moment, but I went too far, and there is absolutely no excuse for my behavior. I regret my actions for which I take full responsibility for what I did, and again I apologize to her and her husband. I’m committed to learning from this, and it will never happen again.”
Kove played primary antagonist John Kreese in the original Karate Kid (1984). He later reprised the role in the film’s two immediate sequels and on Netflix’s Cobra Kai spinoff series.
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