Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis resign from anti-child sex abuse charity over Danny Masterson backlash
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have resigned from their roles on the board of an anti-child sex abuse organisation after facing backlash for submitting character letters on behalf of convicted rapist Danny Masterson.
Kutcher, who co-founded the charity Thorn with his then-wife Demi Moore, has stepped down as chairman of the board, while Kunis was an observer on the board.
They were forced to apologise last week in a video on Instagram after it was revealed that the couple had sent letters to a judge to support their fellow actor Masterson - who was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women.
Both attacks were said to have taken place in Masterson’s home in the Hollywood area in 2003, when he was starring in That ’70s Show.
Kunis and Kutcher, who married in 2015, rose to fame on the sitcom, which followed the lives of a group of fictional teenagers coming of age in the 1970s.
According to the Associated Press news agency, in his letter dated July 27, Kutcher described Masterson as a man who treated people “with decency, equality, and generosity”.
On Friday, Kutcher released a statement on his resignation from Thorn.
He said: "After my wife and I spent several days of listening, personal reflection, learning, and conversations with survivors and the employees and leadership at Thorn, I have determined the responsible thing for me to do is resign as Chairman of the Board, effectively immediately.
"I cannot allow my error in judgment to distract from our efforts and the children we serve.
"Victims of sexual abuse have been historically silenced and the character statement I submitted is yet another painful instance of questioning victims who are brave enough to share their experiences.
"This is precisely what we have all worked to reverse over the last decade."
Kunis did not provide a statement but is understood to have stepped down, Time Magazine reported.
Her letter to Los Angeles Superior Court judge Charlaine F Olmedo called Masterson "an outstanding role model and friend” and an “exceptional older brother figure”.
In their video on Instagram, posted on September 9, Kutcher said: “We are aware of the pain that has been caused by the character letters that we wrote on behalf of Danny Masterson.
"A couple of months ago, Danny’s family reached out to us, and they asked us to write character letters to represent the person that we knew for 25 years, so that the judge could take that into full consideration relative to the sentencing.
"They were intended for the judge to read and not to undermine the testimony of the victims or retraumatise them in any way.
"We would never want to do that and we’re sorry if that has taken place."
Masterson also starred alongside Topher Grace and Laura Prepon in That ’70s Show from 1998 until 2006.
Grace, Prepon, Kunis and Kutcher have since reprised their roles with appearances in Netflix series That ’90s Show, released in 2023.
Kutcher also starred opposite Masterson on American sitcom The Ranch, until the latter was written out of the show when an LAPD investigation was revealed in 2017.
Last week, before Masterson was sentenced, Los Angeles Superior Court heard statements from the women attacked by the 47-year-old in which they detailed their trauma and pain.
A jury of seven women and five men has found Masterson guilty of two counts on May 31 after seven days of deliberations.
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