This month, former TV star Danny Masterson was sentenced to serve 30 years to a life sentence in prison for raping two women. Masterson was filming “That 70s Show” back in the early 2000s during the time of his crimes, with his role in the series being Steven Hyde, a rebellious kid who was main character Eric Foreman’s best friend
Masterson’s last appearance on the public screen was back in 2018 when he starred in the Netflix series “The Ranch”, alongside former co-star Ashton Kutcher. On March 2017, three women filed sexual assault allegations against Masterson– he has since denied these accusations through his agent. At the end of that same year, another woman came forward and accused Masterson of sexual assault as well. After the fourth allegation, Netflix decided to fire him from “The Ranch”, killing his character off in the third season.
Since 2017 Masterson has continued to be in hot water about his acts toward women, some were too afraid to come forward due to Masterson’s high profile in the Church of Scientology. Many have received death threats, their pets have been killed, and attempted murders have occurred.
Several celebrities have been called up to the jury to write and tell the kind of person Masterson was back during the time period of his crimes. “That 70s Show” co-star, Mila Kunis, received backlash for defending Masterson, as she advocated for his leniency. Kunis was slandered in the media due to her “defending” a rapist, when she had done a film project on that topic a little bit earlier. Kunis starred in “The Luckiest Girl Alive,” where she played a raped vitim, who is then involved in a school shooting.
Kunis, alongside her husband and Ashton Kutcher, went on an Instagram live to explain that they were not defending Masterson, but describing his character during the time period that they worked with him. Kunis explains that she feel the pain for the raped victims, and her intention was never to make them feel she was against them.
Masterson was an actor that so many young adults back in the 2000s have grown up with, and now with the sentence being finalized, it almost feels unrealistic that someone people used to watch and admire is now going to prison. As the victims receive justice, they’ll now have a little bit of relief that the man who hurt them will now be paying the price for his actions.
