Current:Home > NewsAshton Kutcher faces backlash for clips discussing underage Hilary Duff, Olsen twins, Mila Kunis -Keystone Capital Education
Ashton Kutcher faces backlash for clips discussing underage Hilary Duff, Olsen twins, Mila Kunis
View
Date:2025-04-18 08:36:06
A resurfaced clip of Ashton Kutcher discussing Hilary Duff and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen from his "Punk'd" days is sparking backlash in the aftermath of Kutcher and wife Mila Kunis apologizing for writing letters of support for former "That '70s Show" co-star Danny Masterson.
"She's one of the girls that we're all waiting to turn 18," Kutcher said of Duff in a "Punk'd" episode that aired in October 2003, just after Duff had turned 16.
"Along with the Olsen twins," Kutcher added of the child stars, who were both 17 at the time.
A judge sentenced Masterson to 30 years to life Thursday for the rape of two women. In a character letter dated July 27, 2023, Kutcher described Masterson as a man who treated people "with decency, equality, and generosity," he wrote; Kunis' letter called Masterson "an outstanding role model and friend" and an "exceptional older brother figure." Both asked the judge for leniency in Masterson's sentencing.
On Saturday, Kutcher and Kunis posted a video to Instagram apologizing for causing any pain or trauma for the character letters they wrote for Masterson after his conviction in May.
Kutcher is facing new backlash on social media for the "Punk'd" footage, which was reportedly shared in an Instagram story on Saturday by Chrissie Carnell Bixler, one of Masterson's accusers and an ex-girlfriend. She also called out Kutcher in a separate story: "In my opinion, you're just as sick as your 'mentor.'"
USA TODAY has reached out for additional comment from Kutcher's representatives.
'We support victims':Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis address 'pain' caused by Danny Masterson letters
Ashton Kutcher talks about kissing Mila Kunis when she was a '14-year-old little girl' in resurfaced interview
Another vintage clip that made the rounds over the weekend was from a 2002 episode of Rosie O'Donnell's talk show where Kutcher and Kunis joke around about Kutcher's bet in 1998 with Masterson to "French kiss" Kunis on the set of "That '70s Show" when Kutcher was 19 and Kunis 14. (They married in 2015.)
Their characters were a couple on the sitcom and in the O'Donnell clip, the two actors talk about filming a makeout scene early on in the first season: Kutcher remembers thinking, "Wait, this is slightly illegal, right?" and Kunis admits that it was her first kiss. "Ashton's attractive and I was a 14-year-old little girl and I was extremely scared for my life," she quips. Then she reveals that Masterson told him, "I'll give you $10 if you French kiss her." Kutcher claims he did it but Kunis says, "I didn't let him. I think he tried. … He never got his tongue in my mouth."
One user on X, formerly Twitter, who shared the clip called the bet "literally so disgusting" while another wrote, "Producers should have been arrested."
Christina Ricci tells her fans to 'believe victims,' 'awesome guys' can also be abusers
Shortly after Kutcher and Kunis' video Saturday, Christina Ricci wrote that "sometimes people we have loved and admired do horrible things" to her Instagram story. "They might not do these things to us and we only know who they were to us but that doesn't mean they didn't do horrible things and to discredit the abused is a crime.
"People we know as 'awesome guys' can be predators and abusers. It's tough to accept but we have to. If we say we support victims — women, children, men, boys — then we must be able to take this stance."
Ricci continued in a second story that she's known "lots of 'awesome guys' who were lovely to me who have been proven to be abusers privately" and admitted that "I've also had personal experience with this.
"Believe victims. It's not easy to come forward. It's not easy to get a conviction."
Contributing: Kim Willis, Naledi Ushe, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
veryGood! (24862)
Related
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Why California's floods may be 'only a taste' of what's to come in a warmer world
- The Prettiest, Budget-Friendly Prom Dresses Are Hiding at Amazon
- Melting glaciers threaten millions of people. Can science help protect them?
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- Efforts to recharge California's underground aquifers show mixed results
- Ryan Gosling Trades in the Ken-ergy for a '90s Boy Band Style with Latest Look
- Get $113 Worth of It Cosmetics Products for Just $45 and Get a Filtered, Airbrushed Look In Real Life
- All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
- Proof Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling Are Still Living in a Barbie World
Ranking
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- EPA's proposal to raise the cost of carbon is a powerful tool and ethics nightmare
- Snow blankets Los Angeles area in rare heavy storm
- Get $113 Worth of It Cosmetics Products for Just $45 and Get a Filtered, Airbrushed Look In Real Life
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Two years later, the 2021 blackout still shapes what it means to live in Texas
- Save 50% On the Top-Selling Peter Thomas Roth Mud Mask and Clear Out Your Pores While Hydrating Your Skin
- 11 killed in arson attack at bar in northern Mexico
Recommendation
Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
Shop Our Favorite Festival Fashion Trends That Dominated Coachella 2023
What we do — and don't yet — know about the malaria cases in the U.S.
We need native seeds in order to respond to climate change, but there aren't enough
Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
Mandy Moore Shows Off Her New Bangs After Itching for a Hair Change
DWTS' Len Goodman Dead at 78: Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and More Pay Tribute
Where are the whales? Scientists find clues thousands of miles away