After five years of successfully avoiding speaking publicly about the multiple allegations of rape made against Danny Masterson — his high-profile trial occurred last year — Ashton Kutcher finally spoke out. In a new interview with Esquire, the actor, who starred alongside Masterson in That ’70s Show and The Ranch, addressed the allegations, saying he hoped his co-star would “be found innocent of the charges brought against him.” (The profile clarified that he hoped Masterson was actually not guilty, not that he would be let off the hook.)
Kutcher was still working with Masterson on the Netflix sitcom The Ranch in March of 2017, when the LAPD confirmed it was investigating allegations from three women who said they were assaulted by Masterson in the early aughts. Nine months later, Netflix announced that Masterson would be written out of the show, though episodes featuring the actor would continue to air through 2018. Throughout it all, Kutcher remained silent, refusing to openly support or condemn his disgraced co-star. He did, however, remain friends with the actor. In 2019, he was reportedly spotted attending a wedding with his wife, Mila Kunis, and Masterson. At the time, he and Kunis were called out by Chrissie Carnell Bixler, one of Masterson’s accusers, who told The Daily Beast that she was “heartbroken as to why they refuse to stand up for all the women they know who have been violently raped by their friend Danny Masterson.”
Since then, Masterson and Kutcher have remained in touch, the actor confirmed to Esquire. “Someday his kid is going to read about this,” Kutcher said, adding that he does “feel for anybody who feels like they were violated in any way.” That said, he stopped short of saying he believed the victims or Masterson. “Ultimately, I can’t know,” he said. “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 space to comment. I just don’t know.”
Masterson was officially charged in 2020, pleading not guilty, but he wouldn’t go to trial until November of 2022. A mistrial was declared after a jury couldn’t reach a verdict. He is expected to be back in court in March, but, as reported earlier this month by Deadline, his attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss all charges against him.