Prior to Danny Masterson’s rape conviction last week, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis wrote character letters on his favor. The famous couple afterwards issued an apology.
For raping two women in 2003, a court in Los Angeles on Thursday sentenced Masterson to 30 years to life in prison.
Kutcher and Kunis expressed regret for whatever hurt the letters, which were made public on Friday, may have caused in a video on Instagram.
The letters pleading for mercy, according to Kutcher, “were intended for the judge to read and not to undercut the testimony of the victims or retraumatize them in any way. We apologize if that has happened because we would never wish to do that.
According to Kutcher, Masterson’s family urged them to write character letters praising “the person that we knew for 25 years” after the actor was found guilty of the rapes in May. The Hollywood Reporter and other internet outlets published the letters online.
From 1998 through 2006, Masterson co-starred on That ’70s Show with Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, and Topher Grace.
He and Kutcher were reunited for the Netflix comedy The Ranch in 2016, but the show was cancelled after the Los Angeles police department probe became public the following year.
Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo of the Los Angeles Superior Court sentenced Masterson, 47, after hearing the women’s testimonies and the defense attorneys’ cries for justice.
In his letter dated July 27, 2023, Kutcher praised Masterson for treating people “with decency, equality, and generosity.”
In her letter to Olmedo, Kunis referred to Masterson as “an exceptional older brother figure” and “an outstanding friend.”
Both rapes occurred in 2003, at the height of Masterson’s success from the Fox network series That ’70s Show, in his house in the Hollywood region. The victims claimed that Masterson drugged them first, followed by a violent rape.
In the video apology, Kunis stated that they did not intend for their letters to cast doubt on the victims’ accounts.
Every single person who has ever experienced sexual assault, sexual abuse, or rape is in our thoughts and prayers, she said.