On June 22nd, Martin Kove (“The Karate Kid”) was asked to leave Summer Convention in Puyallup, Washington. Event organizers made the call after a bizarre report of him allegedly biting his “Cobra Kai” co-star Alicia Hannah-Kim (“Heatwave”) during a VIP meet-and-greet.
According to a report from the Puyallup Police Department, Hannah-Kim first flagged down an officer in the VIP section. She told him that she tapped Kove on the shoulder to say hi. In response, he grabbed her arm and bit her “so hard he nearly drew blood.”
When Hannah-Kim yelled in pain, he changed tactics and began kissing the area. Freaked out by the odd exchange, the actress found her husband, who joined her in confronting Kove. When called out, Kove allegedly “exploded on them, saying something to the effect of how dare they confront him.”
This is when the couple got the authorities involved to try to defuse the situation. The actor told police he was trying to be “funny,” arguing that they “play fight all the time on the set of ‘Cobra Kai.’”
In the end, Hannah-Kim decided not to file charges, but “wished to have a report filed in case this continues.” Soon after, Summer Convention asked Kove to leave, and Puyallup Police advised him not to repeat the behavior.
Representatives for Kove and Netflix have both declined to comment.
UPDATE
Kove has since issued a statement.
“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 from Jaffe & Company PR & 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.”
