‘I’ll F*cking Knock You Out’: Actress Thora Birch Unleashes On Fan

Thora Birch, best known for her role in “Hocus Pocus,” was caught on video in a heated confrontation with a fan who repeatedly demanded an autograph outside a Beverly Hills hotel.

The incident unfolded Saturday outside the Four Seasons Hotel, where Birch was with her husband, Michael Benton Adler, who accused the man of harassing his wife throughout the weekend and aggressively approaching them on the street. Adler allegedly grabbed photos the fan was carrying of Birch and tore them up during the confrontation, as tensions escalated. (RELATED: Rob Reiner’s Wife Emailed Former Death Row Inmate Nanon Williams Hours Before They Were Murdered: REPORT)

“I’ll fucking knock you out,” Birch said as Benton held her back.

The exchange quickly devolved into a prolonged shouting match, with Birch’s husband repeatedly stepping between her and the fan and physically steering her away as accusations flew back and forth. Video of the incident shows pushing and shoving on both sides, stopping just short of punches being thrown.

The confrontation began when the man asked Birch for an autograph and she declined, prompting her husband to intervene, according to TMZ.

At one point, Birch shouted, “What are you, from fucking Israel?” to which the man responded that he was from Puerto Rico before demanding compensation for the photos her husband had torn up.

As the man continued to lunge toward him, Birch’s husband raised his hands and denied striking him.

“I hit you? I hit you?” he asked, as the fan insisted otherwise. Birch shouted that the man “can’t do that” as he kept advancing.

The situation escalated further when Birch’s husband appeared to snap, “If I hit you, you’d be fucking dead,” before calling on bystanders to remove the man. He later turned to the person filming the encounter, dismissing the fan’s claims and insisting the couple had simply been trying to leave when the confrontation erupted.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 26: Thora Birch attends “The Chronology of Water” screening at AFI FEST 2025 Presented By Canva at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres on October 26, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for AFI)

The fan showed no sign of backing down, continuing on his mission for an autograph as the confrontation dragged on. Birch’s husband turned to the person recording and described the man as a “crazy, crazy guy,” while Birch pleaded for him to stop, at one point telling the fan to “behave right now.”

Birch and her husband later issued a joint statement to TMZ expressing regret over how the situation escalated.

“Thora Birch and I wanted to address the incident Saturday. We are deeply regretful for its escalation,” the statement said. “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.”

The statement added that Birch “was trying to de-escalate the situation” and addressed her remarks during the confrontation. According to her husband, Birch, who is Jewish and has close family in Israel, “was simply trying to place an accent.”

“Again, we deeply apologize for this being misunderstood,” the statement concluded.