Ashton Kutcher has resigned as chairman of Thorn, the anti-child sexual abuse organization he co-founded, after the actor and his wife, Mila Kunis, drew criticism for writing letters to a judge asking for They asked for leniency in condemning their “das”. ’70s Show’ co-star Danny Masterson, who was recently sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for rape.
The couple’s support for Masterson sparked a firestorm, prompting them to respond in a video posted to Instagram last weekend. Kutcher announced his resignation from Thorn in a letter to the board Thursday that was posted on the organization’s website.
“I have decided that the most responsible decision for me is to step down as CEO, effective immediately,” Kutcher wrote. “I cannot allow my lapse in judgment to distract from our efforts and the children we serve.”
In May, Masterson, 47, was found guilty in a Los Angeles court of raping two women in the early 2000s, at the height of his career. A judge last week sentenced him to a maximum sentence of 30 years to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 20 years, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
“Victims of sexual abuse have been silenced in the past, and the character statement I submitted is another painful example of the questioning of victims who were brave enough to share their experiences,” Kutcher wrote in his letter to Thorn. “That’s exactly what we’ve all been working on over the last decade to reverse.”
Thorn is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by Kutcher and actress Demi Moore. According to its website, the organization has developed technology to help identify victims of child sexual abuse online.
Representatives for Kutcher and Kunis could not be reached Friday evening, and a request for comment to Thorn was not immediately returned.
“Without Ashton’s contributions, we would not be the thorn we are today,” the organization said in a statement posted on its website. “He has played an important role in the impact we have made and we are grateful for his involvement over the past 15 years.”
The public outcry against Kutcher and Kunis began last week after their letters to the judge in Masterson’s case, Charlaine F. Olmedo of the Los Angeles Superior Court, were published on Substack by journalists who had covered the trial.
The letters detailed the couple’s relationship with Masterson.
Kutcher, 45, Kunis, 40, and Masterson, 47, were longtime co-stars on the hit sitcom “That ’70s Show,” which aired for eight seasons from 1998 to 2006.
In a July 27 letter, Kutcher told the judge that he did not believe Masterson was “a lasting blight on society” and called the prospect of Masterson’s daughter growing up without her father a “tertiary injustice.” in and of itself.”
Kunis, in her own letter to the judge, vouched for Masterson’s character and the “tremendous positive influence he had on me and the people around him.”
In a video posted to Instagram on Saturday, the couple explained that Masterson’s family asked them to write the letters “to represent the person we knew for 25 years so that the judge could fully take this into account when sentencing.”
“They should be read by the judge,” Kutcher said in the video. “And not to undermine the victims’ statements or retraumatize them in any way.”
In the letters, Masterson was described by Kunis as an “exceptional older brother” and by Kutcher as “one of the few people I would trust to be alone with my son and daughter.”
In his resignation letter, Kutcher apologized to victims of sexual violence and members of Thorn “whom I hurt by what I did.”