According to a police report, Kove allegedly bit Hannah-Kim, who played Kim Da-Eun on the show, when the two crossed paths at the event in Puyallup. The report says Hannah-Kim stopped to greet Kove, but things quickly took a weird turn.
“I walked past Martin Kove, tapped him on the shoulder and said hello, and he turned around, grabbed my arm, and BIT DOWN HARD, almost drawing blood,” Hannah-Kim wrote in a statement given to police. She said she yelped and pulled away, but Kove grabbed her arm again and kissed it.
Hannah-Kim immediately told her handler and her husband, actor Sebastian Roche. She described visible teeth marks, bruising, and pain in her statement. Later, when she confronted Kove in the green room and calmly told him not to bite her, he reportedly got angry and insisted it was just a joke.
Kove told police he thought he was being funny and said that play-fighting was common among the cast on set. However, the officer made it clear that biting someone is not legal, joke or not. Kove admitted to biting Hannah-Kim but claimed it was done “in jest.”
Eventually, the two spoke again and Kove apologized. Hannah-Kim chose not to press charges but did file a police report, which included photos of her injury, just in case.
Kove declined to give a handwritten statement to the police but thanked the officer before being escorted out of the event with his son.
So far, there has been no public comment from either Kove or Hannah-Kim’s representatives.
Martin Kove’s role as Kreese has made him one of the most recognizable villains in the Karate Kid universe, appearing in three movies and, more recently, as a regular on Cobra Kai, racking up 57 episodes. His character has always been intense. As co-creator Jon Hurwitz told EW earlier this year, “The Kreese at the beginning of season 6 was the most venomous version of Kreese that we’ve seen.”
Alicia Hannah-Kim’s character, Kim Da-Eun, made a big impression on fans too, teaming up with Kreese in the show’s final season but later questioning their partnership after a tragic turn of events. In a recent interview, Hannah-Kim described Kim as a strategist, always weighing her options and navigating a complicated relationship with Kreese.
The final season of Cobra Kai was released on Netflix in February.
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