In a new interview with Esquire, Ashton Kutcher finally addresses the subject of Danny Masterson, his former That ’70s Show co-star who faces 45 years to life in prison after being charged with three counts of forcible rape in June 2020. A retrial for Masterson is scheduled for March 27.
“Someday, his kid is going to read about this,” Kutcher says of Masterson in the interview, which marks his first time publicly commenting on the trial. “I wholesale feel for anybody who feels like they were violated in any way,” the actor adds.
Kutcher says he wants Masterson “to be found innocent of the charges brought against him,” but acknowledges that the answer isn’t quite so simple. “Ultimately, I can’t know,” Kutcher says. “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.”
According to Esquire, Kutcher and Masterson remain in touch, and the legal battle has been “hard for Kutcher to watch. Even after Kutcher left [That ’70s Show], Masterson remained a mentor of his.”
Reports that Masterson was being investigated by the LAPD for multiple accusations of sexual assault emerged in 2o17. The report found that charges against the actor were first filed in 2004, stemming from an incident that allegedly took place in 2003 in which a victim said she woke up to Masterson having sex with her and eventually strangling her until she lost consciousness.
More alleged victims subsequently came forward, and a later report from The Huffington Post found that “at least three of the women who have accused him of rape were also Scientologists and reported the incidents to the Church of Scientology at the time.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Kutcher and Masterson for comment.
