Ashton Kutcher is still in touch with his “That ’70s Show” costar Danny Masterson, who is facing a new trial after a jury couldn’t reach a verdict on the multiple rape charges against him.
As he told Esquire in an interview published Tuesday, he hopes Masterson is “found innocent” of those charges.
Kutcher told the magazine that he doesn’t want Masterson to be let off the hook, but to actually be innocent. He credits Masterson, who is two years older than him, with mentoring his younger co-stars and steering them away from drugs in the ’90s.
“‘He’s like, ‘One f—ing rule: Don’t do anything f—ing stupid and f— this up. Because if you f— it up, you f— it up for everybody,’” Kutcher recalled Masterson telling him when the show became a hit.
“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,” Kutcher said.
The two were co-starring in Netflix’s “The Ranch,” when the accusations were made in June 2020: Masterson was fired and his character was written off the series.
Kutcher also expressed concern for Masterson’s eight-year-old daughter when she learns about the trial when she’s older: “Someday, his kid is going to read about this.”
He also said he sympathizes with the three women who’ve accused Masterson of rape: “I wholesale feel for anybody who feels like they were violated in any way.”
Kutcher and most of the original stars of “That ’70s Show,” including wife Mila Kunis, Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Wilmer Valderrama, Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith, returned for the sequel series, “That ’90s Show,” which premiered Jan. 19 on Netflix.
