Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are receiving intense backlash over an Instagram video that serves as an apology to the victims of Danny Masterson.
In the video, both actors from That 70s Show speak on camera and look extremely tired in appearance. The video is intended to be a sincere apology for writing letters in defense of their costar in court.
They begin to address the public on social media by apologizing for their role in writing letters to the judge.
Kutcher begins by saying, “We are aware of the pain that has been caused by the letters that we wrote on behalf of Danny Masterson.”
Kunis, clearly reading from a statement, follows with the next sentence, “We support victims.” She adds, “We have done this historically through our work and will continue to do so in the future.”
The statement goes on as Kutcher reads the following line, explaining, “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.”
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’s apology continues
Again, like a staged reading, Kunis delivers the next line, “The letters were not written to question the legitimacy of the judicial system or the validity of the jury’s ruling.”
With the finisher, Kutcher adds, “And we are sorry if that has taken place.” Kunis ends the video with. “Our heart goes out to every single person who has ever been a victim of sexual assault, sexual abuse, or rape.”
Since posting the video, the iconic television stars disabled comments because of the extreme blowback on Instagram.
While they might have received backlash regardless of execution, the reading from a cue card delivery made their intentions feel performative on camera.
But the real backlash comes from the letters the couple wrote to the court.
Instagram comments might be turned off, but Reddit is roasting Kunis and Kutcher for the letter’s content in a no-holds-barred fashion.
The internet strikes back at Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’s video
The Reddit thread r/entertainment had users channeling their angst towards the That 70s Show couple and unleashed their fury about both the apology video and the letters.
One Reddit commenter discusses the courtroom letters and how bad it made them look. The user SDW 1987 writes, “The letters were pretty embarrassing just in their own right….” Adding, “Hopefully celebs learn from this and distance themselves from their rapist colleagues.”
The Reddit commenter noted how the court letters were like kids copying homework, citing, “Their letters were way too similar.”
Another string of commenters touched on the performative nature of the video and brings up a Family Guy character played by Kunis.
The Reddit user TrumpSmokesMids27 writes, “She puts more emotion into voicing Meg Griffin than she does in this ‘apology’ video.”
A commenter named NomadJones replies with acknowledgment that it felt like the actress read off a teleprompter.
More commenters on the social media thread address how artificial Kunis seems and call Kutcher the “better actor.”
Reddit user Virgo911 says, “At least he comes off genuine.” And a response by EllectraHeart agreed the That 70s Show actress sounded “insincere.”
The most popular response is from someone who refers to an iconic MTV show from the early 2000s.
When a Reddit user says they thought Kutcher and Kunis were “one of the good ones,” a replier named wellwaffled says, “You’ve been Punk’D!”
As far as the disgraced costar, Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life for his crimes against two women. Despite the conviction, his wife, Bijou Phillips, has stood by the actor’s side.