Cobra Kai star Martin Kove breaks silence over shock vampire bite that left his co-star in agony
The 78-year-old actor attended the Washington State Summer Con in Puyallup, Washington over the weekend, where an incident occured in the VIP section.
His Cobra Kai co-star Hannah-Kim, 37, was also at the convention, reporting to a police officer that Kove bit her so hard it almost drew blood, causing her to scream in pain.
Hannah-Kim refused to press charges against Kove, though she did file a report with the venue, which included taking photos of the bite mark and bruises.
After Hannah-Kim and her husband, actor Sebastian Roche, confronted Kove after the incident, he reportedly became 'furious and outraged and visibly angry,' insisting, 'he bit me for fun.'
Kove was banished from the convention, and now he's breaking his silence on the incident in a statement to Deadline.
'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,' he added, before addressing the incident.
'I was being playful in the moment but went too far and there is absolutely no excuse for my behavior,' Kove continued.
'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,' he concluded.
The report from the incident revealed that Kove did apologize to Hannah-Kim and her husband Roche, though now he's doing so publicly.
Photos were also taken of Hannah-Kim's arm, which showcased a, 'very noticeable bite mark on her arm that was already turning blue and bruising.'
Kove was told to leave the convention, and the officer told him never to do something like that again.
Kim played Kim Da-Eun, a powerful South Korean sensei who is also the granddaughter of Kim Sun-Yung, the master who taught initially taught Kove's character John Kreese in his youth.
The report from the incident revealed that Kove did apologize to Hannah-Kim and her husband Roche, though now he's doing so publicly.
Kove played Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese in the 1984 classic The Karate Kid, and its 1986 and 1989 sequels, The Karate Kid Part II and The Karate Kid Part III.
He reprised that role for Cobra Kai, set 34 years after the events of the original Karate Kid film, which originally aired on YouTube Red before moving to Netflix.
The show enjoyed a strong run spanning six seasons, following Kreese's old student Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and his rivalry with Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), which ended its run back in February.
Kove will next be seen in Killing Mary Sue with Sean Patrick Flannery, Dermot Mulroney and Jason Mewes, while Hannah-Kim is filming the South Korean TV series The North Star.
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