‘Hocus Pocus’ Star Thora Birch Tells Autograph Seeker She’ll ‘Knock’ Him Out During Heated Altercation

Thora Birch and her husband, Michael Benton Adler, got into a heated argument on the street after a man allegedly got a little too aggressive in his quest for her autograph.

On January 12, TMZ shared a two-part video of the Hocus Pocus star, 43, and her husband, 48, involved in a shouting match with an unknown man after Benton allegedly tore up the photos the man was trying to get her to sign. The outlet reported that the incident took place outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills following the BAFTA Tea Party on Saturday, January 10.

In the first video, the men get in each other’s faces at several points, but never come to blows. At one point, a visibly angry Birch tells the man, “I’ll knock you out.” Throughout, every time Birch got close to him, her husband pulled her back and stood between her and the autograph seeker.

Adler also alleged in the video that the same man had been following them and bothering his wife all weekend long.

Birch is heard saying, “What are you, from f**king Israel?” in the first video. The man responds that he’s from Puerto Rico while following them down the street, demanding compensation for the torn-up photos.

However, in a second video, cooler heads prevail: Birch decides to sign the guy’s photos to make up for damaging the property. The pair have a long conversation, but it’s impossible to hear it as Benton is in the foreground of the shot, scolding the person filming the incident for doing so.

“For all you people out there, don’t listen to this stuff. These people are wrong,” he tells the camera. “They’re bad people. All we were trying to do is walk out.”

In a statement to TMZ following the incident, the couple said they regretted the way things went down and sought to explain Birch’s question about where the man is from.

“Thora Birch and I wanted to address the incident Saturday. We are deeply regretful for its escalation,” the statement reads, per the outlet. “As we left an event, my wife, Thora, was accosted by a professional autograph seeker who followed us to our car from a private area. Thora was trying to deescalate the situation. She is Jewish and has close family in Israel and was simply trying to place an accent. Again, we deeply apologize for this being misunderstood.”