UPDATE: Legal affairs reporter Meghann Cuniff has published the letters written by Kunis and Kutcher along with others including Kurtwood Smith, Debra Jo Rupp, Giovanni Ribisi, and Billy Baldwin. You can read them here.
After narrowly escaping a mistrial, Danny Masterson was convicted of multiple counts of rape in a second trial, which resulted in the actor being sentenced to 30 years in prison this week. However, that sentencing has now brought a wave of blowback for his That ’70s Show co-stars and longtime friends Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.
According to Good Morning America, both Kutcher and Kunis wrote “letters of support” for Masterson ahead of his sentencing. The full content of those letters has not been disclosed, but Kutcher reportedly called Masterson a “role model” while Kunis cited his “exceptional character.”
ABC7 reporter Lisa Bartley corroborated the existence of a letters in a tweet following Masterson’s sentencing.
#DannyMasterson update… I just picked up the letters from Masterson’s family and friends sent to Judge Olmedo ahead of today’s sentencing. Still going through them but actors @aplusk and @MilaKunisv both speak highly of their friend, now convicted rapist @dannymasterson
— Lisa Bartley (@LisaBartleyABC7) September 7, 2023
“I just picked up the letters from Masterson’s family and friends sent to Judge Olmedo ahead of today’s sentencing,” Bartley tweeted. “Still going through them but actors @aplusk and @MilaKunisv both speak highly of their friend, now convicted rapist @dannymasterson.”
Niesha Trout, one of Masterson’s victims who testified in the trial, also confirmed the letters from Kutcher and Kunis.
The letters will be leaked soon, but I want you all to know that post Danny Masterson’s conviction & after they read all of the gruesome sworn-under-oath testimony of 5 of Danny’s victims, Ashton Kutcher & Mila Kunis submitted letters to the judge asking her for leniency on Danny
— Niesha Trout (@nieshatrout) September 8, 2023
“The letters will be leaked soon,” Trout tweeted. “But I want you all to know that post Danny Masterson’s conviction & after they read all of the gruesome sworn-under-oath testimony of 5 of Danny’s victims, Ashton Kutcher & Mila Kunis submitted letters to the judge asking her for leniency on Danny.”
Despite his well-documented friendship with Masterson, Kutcher has been reluctant to publicly comment on the rape allegations ever since Masterson was pulled from The Ranch in 2017. However, Kutcher slightly broke his silence earlier this year in an interview with Esquire.
“Ultimately, I can’t know. I’m not the judge. I’m not the jury. I’m not the DA. I’m not the victim. And I’m not the accused. And so, in that case, I don’t have a space to comment… I just don’t know,” Kutcher said. “I wholesale feel for anybody who feels like they were violated in any way.”
Kutcher did confess to Esquire that he keeps in touch with Masterson and hoped he would be found innocent. It did not go that way.
(Via Decider)