Dave Karofsky

Dave Karofsky
Glee character
Max Adler as Dave Karofsky
First appearance	"Mash-Up"
Last appearance	"Dreams Come True"
Created by	Ryan Murphy Brad Falchuk Ian Brennan
Portrayed by	Max Adler
Information
Occupation	High school student
Family	Paul Karofsky (father)
Significant other(s)	Santana Lopez Blaine Anderson

David "Dave" Karofsky, often referred to as Karofsky, is a recurring fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Max Adler, and has appeared in Glee since its first season episode "Mash-Up", first broadcast on October 21, 2009. Initially known only by his surname, Karofsky was introduced as a bully and a member of the McKinley High hockey team who slushies football captain Finn (Cory Monteith), and who teams with fellow athlete and bully Azimio (James Earl) to torment various fellow students, usually members of the school glee club, New Directions. Later in the season, he is identified as a member of the football team, and is a football player in the second season. Karofsky is revealed to be a closeted homosexual early in that season, and is still closeted at the end of the season, though he has stopped being a bully, and has won the election for Junior Prom King. He transfers to another school for his senior year, but is outed there and after being bullied by his classmates he attempts suicide, though he is saved by his father.

Karofsky was initially used as an ordinary jock bully, but Adler's acting impressed show co-creator Ryan Murphy; he expanded Karofsky's role in the show's second season by having him especially target gay glee club member Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), only to turn out to be gay himself, though closeted. That revelation sparked a wave of reaction from people who thought it was important for Glee to show "the confusion and the torture one person can put themselves through being closeted". Reviewers have been impressed with Adler's portrayal of Karofsky, including Michael Slezak of TVLine, who in the second season characterized it as "surprisingly nuanced" and with a "terrific amount of depth", and Billboard's Rae Votta, who wrote in the third season, "As always, Kurt and Karofsky's scenes shine as the strongest in whichever episode they're featured."