When did they write the letters? Was it before any of the details of the case had been made public or after? Were they personally written or did PR firms send them out as a matter of course? I don’t really give a shit about celebrities or their personal lives and I’m all for a good old fashioned internet pile on, but for some reason I’d like to know the details first.
After he was found guilty, before he was sentenced
Masterson had been facing 30 years to life, which is the maximum sentence allowed by law. His defense was asking for 15 years to life, so those who wrote letters to the judge were likely aware he would be getting at least 15 years in prison.
Idunno. If my best friend was facing between 15 and 30 years in prison for multiple rapes, I don’t think I would be begging the judge to reduce his sentence because he’s such a good guy aside from the raping
Also he’s a scientologist, so fuck him
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Your experience and insight are incredibly valuable here. Thank you.
But, y’know, Will Smith slapping Chris Rock was just beyond the pale for Kunis. Gotcha.
Definitely the wrong thing to do, but also something that could be dealt with with a financial penalty and a sincere apology. When Masterson isn’t even admitting to his crimes, celebrities advocating for him is akin to what Will Smith did, using a position of privilege against the victims.
That’s not the point. The point is Kunis said that was unconscionable in that case, and in this one, she’s defending a serial rapist.
I’m not disagreeing.
I’ll sum up my feelings about this in four words.
Who gives a shit?
Here are four more:
Celebrity 👏 gossip 👏 isn’t 👏 news 👏.
This is why letters of character should not be considered in a court of law.
Idunno, it shows me that Kutcher and Kunis are awful people. I’d rather know that so I can avoid giving them money in the future
Luckily it didn’t seem to affect the verdict too much, he got 30 years.
Both Kutcher and Kunis wrote about Masterson’s drug-free lifestyle, and noted he was a positive force on their lives. During the trial, prosecutors said Masterson drugged women before sexually assaulting them.
Such a long and glowing article for a man who drugged women to rape them. Including the positive quotes from his friends made sense, but a bit more perspective was needed than the few sentences discussing his crimes.
I don’t see Variety as the pinacle of journalism whatsoever.
I wondered if it was a “presented without comment” kinda thing? Shade on everyone without explicit condemnation? Maybe the writer was told to write a sympathetic piece and just couldn’t bring themselves to? The more I type the more wishful I realise this thinking is… 😕
The article states 50 others wrote in support of this rapist. They should all be ashamed of themselves.
“Other stars from “The 70’s Show” who wrote to the judge include Debra Jo Rupp, who played Kitty on the sitcom, and Kurtwood Smith, who played Red. Masterson’s famous family members wrote letters in his support, including his siblings Alanna Masterson (“The Walking Dead”), Christopher Masterson (“Malcolm In the Middle”), Jordan Masterson (“Last Man Standing”), as well as his brother-in-law Billy Baldwin and his wife, the actor and model, Bijou Phillips. Other Hollywood names who wrote to the judge include actor Giovanni Ribisi; Jim Patterson, creator of Netflix’s “The Ranch;” Masterson’s former publicist, Jenni Weinman; and TV director, David Trainer, who worked on “The 70’s Show” and “The Ranch.””
Whelp, whole list of people who can get fucked and whose work I will not be patronizing.
I’m glad Jim Gaffigan doesn’t appear to be on that list.
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The only person in that show I had any respect for as an actor was Kurtwood Smith.
So much for that.
Hollywood and those involved in the movie industry are a bunch of self righteous weirdos.
RIP Trent the teetotaler. He may have touched those kids, parents, grandparents, pets, and all of their toothbrushes, but he never touched a bottle. He will be missed.
Ashton Kutcher wants to prevent and stop human trafficking so much so he mostly retired from acting to make a bigger impact against it. Yet he is okay with a rapist cause it’s his “friend”. Talk about a fuckin hypocrite. More proof that the famous and wealthy live by a different standard. No matter how good they seem.
More proof that the famous and wealthy live by a different standard. No matter how good they seem.
You don’t need to be famous or wealthy to overlook or cover up the crimes of someone you know. It happens every day among people of every socioeconomic status, between friends and within families and businesses. In this case he isn’t even trying to cover for him, just wrote a letter supporting him at his trial based on what he knows of the guy. I don’t think it was in good taste, but also don’t think it’s worth shunning Ashton Kutcher over
If I found out my best friend was a rapist I would drop him before the ink on his arrest warrant dried
Nice friend you are.
You understand that false allegations happen all the time? This wasn’t, obviously, because he got convicted. But if you drop your friends on an arrest warrant, I wouldn’t want to be your friend.
That’s not what they said. They didn’t say they discovered their hypothetical friend was a rapist because of the arrest warrant.
It could be as simple as another friend telling them she was raped.
No, that person said that IF they found out their friend was a rapist because of an arrest.
An arrest is upon suspicion, and in rape cases, many times an allegation. That doesn’t mean the person is guilty, that is not how our justice system works. False rape allegations unfortunately hace happened all too often and mostly end up in the victims life being utterly destroyed. The victim here not being the lying rape claimer, but the person who reiceived the false allegation.
It’s also a really shitty situation for people around. Imagine being a mother and your son gets a rape allegation.
The problem is that rape is very hard to prove. If it happenend a few hours ago, no condom, okay then you have some evidence. But was it rape or consensual sex? If it happened years ago it becomes even harder to prove and a lot of times it’s a he said-she said game and unless there is more actual concrete evidence, a judge isn’t going to send a person to jail on a single allegation.
In this case ther were multiple independent testimonies, that helps
But when your friend is accused of rape thrn I guess it up to you, who do you believe? O hoor my friends would know me and trust and believe me.
Then again, maybe that is what Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher did. Trust and believe their friend, and now they “Support” a rapist
I never said “because of an arrest”
2-10%, that’s about right. Do you want I ben part of that statistic, or so you prefer the “innocent until proven guilty” which is the basis of our entire justice system
Western justice systems are not principally designed to send that guilty to jail, their designed to keep the innocent out.
I mean my comment explicitly mentions becoming aware that my best friend was a rapist, not was accused of it
I suppose I could have said “if one of my friends was credibly accused of rape and it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed it, I would no longer be their friend,” but that doesn’t quite have the same kick, the same pizazzy oomph
My point was, it’s beyond unacceptable for these two to defend a rapist in any way. It’s not defensible just because they were friends. They’re horrible people, end of.
This is my take. Ashton takes his job very seriously, but if he wanted to remain neutral on this he should have just shut the fuck up and accepted the court rulings like the rest of us.
Im confused. OP wrote the letter was written during his trial, and you said he should have accepted the ruling.
Was this letter written before or after the ruling?
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis were two of more than 50 people who wrote to the judge in the Danny Masterson sexual assault trial to support the convicted actor ahead of his sentencing, per court documents obtained by Variety.
I had to look it up because the dates weren’t in the article, but he was convicted in May, and these letters were dated between July and August. He wasn’t sentenced until just a few days ago.
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I mean, if a friend was credibly accused of the stuff he did, I wouldn’t be writing any letters of support. There’s a limit to what you’d do for someone in the name of friendship.
mm hmmm, that’s a former friend right there. i don’t put up with abusive or toxic behavior.
Exactly.
Any friend that rapes is no friend of mine, IDGAF how long I’ve known you or what we’ve been through
I could say the same about Nazis, pedereasses, etc - some things are way bigger than friendship
I dunno. Seems like an incredibly fucked up thing to do when it comes to the severity of the crimes. At some point, you turn your back on someone and don’t support them because what they did is beyond the pale. It’s all about context. Being a rapist doesn’t have any context in which I could support you.
Stealing from a store? I got your back. You killed the person that murdered your family? I’ll help you bury the body. You raped women? Get fucked, dickhead. You’re not who I thought you were and you don’t deserve me by your side.
Thank you I know someone who raped some women. We shuned that fucking rapist and turn on back on him.
What he did writing a letter in support of his friend takes away all the good he was doing. Fuck Ashton. He should’ve have turn his back and stay quite.
It is incredibly fucked, iits just not a celebrity/wealthy thing. It’s a human failing.
Didn’t Kutcher kick Masterson off his show, “The Ranch”, when he found out about the allegations?
I don’t know what’s going though any of their minds and I don’t know much about the case, but writing letters for your former friend that’s a piece of shit is common. 30 years is a very long time. Longer than Cosby got. So it couldn’t be good. But I wonder what the details are before I immediately jump to “most of the cast are assholes by association”. Also, did no one know about this during the show? Mila even had to stage kiss and hug the guy when their characters were dating.
These two cunts can live with that rapist in his prison cell if they love him so much.
What does Scientology have on these two? Yuck.
Are they Scientologists too? I didn’t know that. It could explain why they’re publicly supporting him I guess.
Not to my knowledge. (Didn’t look it up, but thought it was him and Laura Prepon that were. And she might have left, not sure.) Just was referring to how Scientology has a history of blackmail.
Really fuckin weird.
They also added that their exclusive NFTs were on sale for all of Labor Day Weekend!
simple explanation, which in no way absolves these two from the choice they made in coming to the defense and support of a convicted rapist: family is family
Fuck that. When I found out a family member had raped someone they were no longer family.
Exactly no exception you cut them out completely.
When did you “find out”? Before or after the trial?
You know that people can judge other people as guilty regardless of what a court finds them.
Or do you think OJ Simpson didn’t murder his ex-wife?
Which is an explanation and that explanation, where you’d defend “family” even when they did do something wrong, if not horrific, rather than say they should face the consequences of their choices.
And that sort of defense is one where the person making it is just as evil as the person they’re defending.
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A comment I made elsewhere is even more relevant here:
My family beat and outcast a member who turned out to be a predator. Fuck him, he’s dead now. Didn’t shed a tear.
Blood is irrelevant and the family you choose is stronger.
