It can be a difficult truth to sit with when your friend is accused of something heinous such as sexual assault. Ashton Kutcher knows this firsthand, as his friend and former That '70s Show costar Danny Masterson is accused of rape.
Kutcher opened up about his complicated feelings about the topic in a recent interview with Esquire magazine. There are no clear answers or road maps for situations such as these.
When Danny Masterson was first accused, he and Kutcher were starring together in the Netflix series The Ranch, which Masterson was then written out of. Masterson became the subject of an investigation in 2017. He was formally charged with three counts of rape in 2020. His 2022 trial ended in a mistrial because the jury could not agree on a verdict. Kutcher and Masterson remain in contact.
At first Kutcher thought like a parent. "Someday, his kid is going to read about this," he said. He then made it clear that he supported women who spoke out against sexual assault. "I wholesale feel for anybody who feels like they were violated in any way," he added.
At the end of the day, his ideal scenario in this situation is for his friend to be found "innocent of the charges brought against him." Kutcher added that he is not in a position to pass judgment.
"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," he concluded.
To learn more about Kutcher and Masterson’s friendship, watch this video.
