Cobra Kai star Martin Kove was escorted out of a convention in Washington state this weekend after he admitted he bit his former co-star’s hand and then exploded at her and her husband when confronted about the assault, according to a report from local police.
Longtime Cobra Kai star Kove, who portrayed sensei John Kreese in the Netflix series in a reprisal of his iconic villain in the 1984 classic The Karate Kid, and Alicia Hannah-Kim, the show’s Kim Da-Eun in seasons 5 and 6, were attending Washington State’s Summer Con in Puyallup when the incident occurred.
Kove and Hannah-Kim were at the TV fan convention and participating in fan-focused activities around the show, which premiered in 2018 and concluded in February after six seasons; it takes place 34 years after the events of The Karate Kid. Kove’s role in that film as Kreese, reprised in its two hit sequels, instantly made him one of the iconic villains of the 1980s.
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, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. At that point, the report citing Hannah-Kim’s account to the officer states, Kove began to bite her arm.
“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 states.
At that point, Hannah-Kim found her handler and husband, Sebastian Roche, and the three went back to find Kove and confront him about the assault. When they found the actor, who had his son and an agent with him at the event, he “exploded on them, saying something to the effect of how dare they confront him, and he did not do anything wrong.” At that point, after the couple sought out the officer in the VIP area, Kove was brought to a back area away from the convention attendees.
Speaking with the officer, Kove admitted to biting Hannah-Kim, the report states, telling everyone present that it was done in jest and “he thought he was being funny.” Kove said that he and Hannah-Kim would “play fight all the time” on the Cobra Kai set. He did not think it was a big deal, the report states.
Alicia went and told her handler and her husband Sebastian Roche, and they went to speak with Martin Kove about this incident. They told him how Martin Kove “exploded on them, saying something to the effect of how dare they confront him, and he did not do anything wrong.”
Hannah-Kim’s arm, at this point, was growing more noticeably bruised, having worsened since the officer first spoke with her, the report states. When informed by his former co-star that what he did to her was illegal, Kove brushed it off, saying he was just “messing around.” His attitude sharply shifted after the officer explained the potential consequences of his actions, which amounted to assault.
“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 wrote in the report.
After Kove apologized in front of the officer, Hannah-Kim then asked to speak to the officer in private. She told him that she did not want to press charges against Kove but did want to ensure that the assault was documented in case Kove’s behavior continues. She and her husband then provided handwritten statements on the incident.
Kove was then escorted, along with his son, out of the convention. The officer indicated in his report that Kove reiterated that this type of play-fighting occurred frequently with the two on the Cobra Kai set as he was being removed from the event.
Emails sent to Kove’s talent agent and manager by THR on Tuesday seeking comment were not immediately returned.
