Martin Kove, the actor fans know best as the ruthless John Kreese from The Karate Kid and Netflix’s Cobra Kai, is making headlines once again — but this time, it’s not for his performance on screen.
According to a newly released police report obtained by Variety, the 78-year-old was asked to leave a Washington fan convention after allegedly biting his Cobra Kai co-star, Alicia Hannah-Kim, during a VIP meet-and-greet.
“He bit me so hard he nearly drew blood”
The shocking incident reportedly unfolded on Sunday at Summer Con in Puyallup, Washington, where both Kove and Hannah-Kim were appearing to meet fans.
According to the police report, Hannah-Kim told an officer stationed near the VIP area that she tapped Kove on the shoulder to say hello when things suddenly took a disturbing turn.
“He suddenly grabbed her arm and bit her so hard he nearly drew blood,” the officer wrote in the report, according to Variety.
Even more bizarre, the report says that as Hannah-Kim cried out in pain, Kove began kissing the very spot on her arm where he had bitten her.
The moment reportedly left Hannah-Kim and her husband in shock. She told him what had happened, and the two approached Kove to confront him.
That’s when things escalated again.
“How dare they confront him”
According to the report, Kove didn’t apologize — instead, he “exploded” on the couple.
“He exploded on them, saying something to the effect of how dare they confront him,” the report states.
The officer who documented the incident was asked to step in and deescalate the confrontation. Kove reportedly told the officer he was “trying to be funny,” claiming that they “play fight all the time on the set of Cobra Kai.”
Despite the unsettling experience, Hannah-Kim declined to press charges — but she made it clear she was concerned this could happen again.
She “wished to have a report filed in case this continues,” the report noted.
Kove was removed from the convention and given a warning by law enforcement not to engage in such behavior again.
“Cobra Kai” co-stars
Kove and Hannah-Kim shared screen time during the fifth and sixth seasons of Cobra Kai, where she played the fierce South Korean sensei Kim Da-Eun.
But if this weekend’s events are any indication, there’s clearly tension between the co-stars off-screen. Neither Kove’s representatives nor Netflix have issued a statement as of this writing, according to Variety.
Kove, a father of two and a martial artist, gained fame in the 1980s as the villainous John Kreese. But with this latest incident, fans are questioning whether he’s taken his infamous bad guy persona a step too far in real life.
