Martin Kove has made an official apology to his Cobra Kai co-star Alicia Hannah-Kim for biting her arm at a fan convention this weekend.
“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 to TMZ, sent from 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 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.”
According to an incident report filed by a Puyallup police officer and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, the biting occurred after Hannah-Kim approached her former co-star Kove at Washington State’s Summer Con in Puyallup and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.
“When Alicia did this, Martin Kove suddenly grabbed her arm and bit her upper arm so hard it nearly drew blood, and she yelled out in pain. Once Martin Kove finished biting her arm, he grabbed her arm again and began kissing it where he had bit her (Alicia had a very noticeable bite mark on her arm that was already turning blue and bruising),” the report further states.
Hannah-Kim and her husband, Sebastian Roché, approached Kove about the assault, to which he “exploded on them, saying something to the effect of how dare they confront him, and he did not do anything wrong.” In the VIP area, they communicated with an officer, and Kove admitted to bitting Hannah-Kim, but said “he thought he was being funny.”
Kove stars as sensei John Kreese in Cobra Kai, a character he reprised from the 1984 film The Karate Kid. In the sequel series, he acted alongside Hannah-Kim after she joined the cast in seasons five and six.
“It was absolutely illegal and not only did he cross boundaries but he broke the law, and it was being investigated as an assault, and he could potentially be booked into jail or issued a citation for his unprovoked biting and kissing,” the responding officer additionally wrote in the report.
Hannah-Kim told the officer she did not want to press charges, but wanted the incident documented in case of further bad behavior on Kove’s part.