Back in 2011, 16-year-old Courtney Stodden got married to Doug Hutchison (The Green Mile), a 51-year-old actor. The media had a field day with the story and somehow made a sexually exploited minor the object of public ridicule. Since then, Stodden has left Hutchison, come out as nonbinary, and become an advocate against child marriage. They have also been calling out some of the inappropriate and downright predatory behavior they endured as a teen.
One such incident came in 2012, when Stodden was 17. They performed in a Funny or Die skit alongside Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) and their now ex-husband. The skit itself mocks a very real Dr. Drew segment that Stodden was subjected to. In the talk show segment, they were given an ultrasound to prove that they didn’t have breast implants. Shockingly, the 16-year-old teenager did not. (And thinking this was okay to broadcast on national television as entertainment was not a high point for this country.)
In the skit, Alexander lampoons this segment and then says he has an app on his phone that can measure Stodden’s heart. It’s really just him having the camera app open on his iPhone and taking pictures of Stodden’s “heart” (by which we obviously mean breasts). He even says he gets “no signal” when aiming his phone at their face, but “plenty of signal” pointing at their chest. Again, they were 17…Alexander was a grown-ass man, and credited as a writer on the skit.
He literally just made fun of a TV doctor for reducing a teen down to their breasts. Then immediately turns around and does the same thing.
Stodden’s Thoughts
Two days ago, Stodden shared a screen grab from the video followed by this caption.
I was 17 years old in this photo.
The older I get, the more impossible this is to understand. During this comedy sketch, Jason Alexander repeatedly rubbed his phone across my breasts while saying there was “no signal” in my head but “plenty of signal” in my chest. Later in the sketch, he joked that when I turned 18 he’d like to take me behind the couch and “have his way” with me. IMDb credits him as one of the writers of the episode. As an adult, that fact has become harder—not easier—for me to understand. I was a minor. I didn’t have the legal power to decide whether I wanted to participate. The contracts were signed by adults. The paycheck went to Doug. The production moved forward. I was the only child in the room. I felt so alone.
Looking back now, I don’t see comedy. I see a 17-year-old girl whose body became part of an adult joke. 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.
Alexander has since issued the following apology.
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. But more importantly, I am deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms. Stodden. I offer her my sincerest apologies.
Stodden has been a vocal supporter of passing California bill AB1267. This bans child marriage by making the legal minimum age 18 years old. But the bottom line is we really shouldn’t have to be telling 50+ year-old adults not to marry children.
You can watch the Funny or Die clip below:
