Ashton Kutcher Says He Still Talks to Danny Masterson, Wants to Believe He’s Innocent
Ashton Kutcher has addressed the rape allegations against his friend and former co-star Danny Masterson for the first time.
In a new interview with Esquire, Kutcher was upfront about the contradictory feelings he’s been grappling with since Masterson was charged with forcibly raping three women at his home in the Hollywood Hills between 2001 and 2003. On one hand, Kutcher admitted that he still talks with Masterson and his brother; on the other he expressed support for victims of abuse and assault, saying, “I wholesale feel for anybody who feels like they were violated in any way.”
As Kutcher noted, Masterson had long been a mentor to him, dating back to their days on That ‘70s Show. Masterson, who’d been working in the industry a bit longer than some of his younger castmates at the time, knew how rare the show’s success was, and Kutcher said he hammered that point home to his peers.
“He’s like, ‘One fucking rule: Don’t do anything fucking stupid and fuck this up. Because if you fuck it up, you fuck it up for everybody,’” Kutcher recalled.
To that end, Kutcher said he wants Masterson “to be found innocent of the charges against him.” But he also acknowledged that there’s a lot he “can’t know” at this moment.
“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,” Kutcher said. “And so, in that case, I don’t have a space to comment… I just don’t know.”
Masterson’s first rape trial ended with a deadlocked jury and a mistrial last November. The case will be retried this year, with a judge setting March 27 as the beginning of a 10-day window in which the new trial is expected to begin. Masterson has denied and pleaded not guilty to the allegations against him.
As for the three victims, all of them testified at Masterson’s first trial last year. Jane Doe 1 testified that Masterson raped her and put a gun to her head after feeding her a vodka cocktail at his home in 2003. Jane Doe 2 claimed Masterson raped her at his home in late 2003, allegedly giving her a glass of wine that caused her to go limp and ignoring her pleas to stop as he overpowered her.
And Jane Doe 3 — who has identified herself as Chrissie Carnell Bixler — testified that Masterson assaulted her twice at the end of 2001 near the end of a troubled domestic relationship. Bixler claimed the first assault involved Masterson initiating penetrative sex with her while she was asleep.