‘Cobra Kai’ Star Martin Kove Bit Co-Star at Fan Event: ‘No Excuse for My Behavior’

Actor Martin Cove, who plays John Kreese in The Karate Kid franchise, recently got booted from a fan event for biting one of his Cobra Kai co-stars.

The biting reportedly occurred during a VIP-meet-and-greet at the fan convention Summer Con in Washington State over the weekend when Kove’s co-star, actress Alicia Hannah-Kim, tapped him on the arm to say hello, according to a report from the Puyallup Police Department, per Variety:

According to the report, Hannah-Kim told an officer working the VIP section that, after tapping Kove on the shoulder to say hello, he suddenly grabbed her arm and bit her “so hard he nearly drew blood.” The report states that when she cried out in pain, Kove allegedly started kissing her arm where he had bitten her. The report detailed that Hannah-Kim then told her husband, who was present at the event, and the pair went to confront Kove about the incident.

The report states that upon confronting Kove, he “exploded on them, saying something to the effect of how dare they confront him.” Hannah-Kim and her husband asked the reporting officer to step in and defuse the situation. According to the report, Kove claimed he was trying to be “funny,” adding that they “play fight all the time on the set of ‘Cobra Kai.’” Hannah-Kim reportedly told the officer that she would not file charges, but “wished to have a report filed in case this continues.”

Kove, age 78, then left the fan convention after the officer warned him not to repeat the offending behavior again. In a statement on Tuesday, the actor took full responsibility for the incident, saying that he went “too far” while being playful.

“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 provided to Deadline 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,” he added. “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.”

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