Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher’s apology for supporting Danny Masterson flopped. A crisis PR professional says it’s because they didn’t seem sorry.
- Molly McPherson is a crisis PR professional who shares TikTok videos.
- She analyzed Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’ apology after they supported Danny Masterson.
- Masterson was found guilty of rape on Thursday and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis made an apology video after their letters of support on behalf of Danny Masterson came to light, but a PR crisis professional tells Insider it fell flat because they didn’t actually apologize.
The drama surrounding the former “That ’70s Show” star came to a head this month when a judge sentenced Masterson, who played Steven Hyde on the sitcom, to 30 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty on two counts of rape. Masterson had previously pleaded not guilty after the Los Angeles District Attorney announced the charges in August 2020.
Following the trial, fans learned Masterson’s former costarsKutcher and Kunis wrote letters asking a judge for leniency in his sentencing.
People criticized the couple on social media,prompting them to apologizein avideo shared to Kutcher’s Instagramon Saturday. Since the video’s release,outlets like Variety,fans online, andother celebrities such as Kathy Griffinhave derided the apology for appearing insincere. While somefans have defended Kutcher and Kunis, the overall online consensus is that the tides have turned.
“Love how they said ‘they were for the judge not the public’. So you’re not sorry. You’re sorry you got caught,” one person wrote on X.
Molly McPherson, a PR professionalwho doesn’t represent the couple, said the video failed because of one crucial flaw: It lacked an apology.
“That apology video was not an apology. What we all witnessed was an explanation video,” McPherson said in a TikTok video Sunday. “There was no acknowledgment whatsoever for what they did.”
Representatives for Kutcher and Kunis did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
McPherson told Insider that Kutcher and Kunis’ apology shifted blame instead of taking responsibility
Kunis and Kutcher submitted individual letters to the judge presiding over Masterson’s trial that praised his character, which was obtained and released by legal affairs journalist Meghan Cuniff, Insider previously reported.
Kutcher called him an “excellent role model” and the couple discussed Masterson’s anti-drug attitude, which contradicted three women’s testimonies who said Masterson drugged and raped them between 2001 and 2003.
In their apology, the couple said they were “aware of the pain that has been caused by the character letters that have been written on behalf of Danny Masterson.”
“We support victims. We have done this historically through our work and will continue to do so in the future,” Kunis said in the apology video.
Kutcher continued: “A couple of months ago, Danny’s family reached out to us, and they asked us to write character letters to represent the person that we knew for 25 years, so that the judge could take that into full consideration.”
The couple went on to say the letters were written for only the judge to read while he made a decision on sentencing and were not intended to “undermine the testimony of the victims or retraumatize them in any way.”
“The letters were not written to question the legitimacy of the judicial system or the validity of the jury’s ruling,” Kunis said.
Kunis ended the apology by saying, “Our heart goes out to every single person who has ever been a victim of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and rape.”
In a statement emailed to Insider Monday, McPherson said the apology didn’t show Kutcher or Kunis taking full responsibility for supporting Masterson.
“The couple’s apology video received intense backlash because they refused to acknowledge they submitted letters to the court asking for Danny Masterson’s sentence to be reduced,” she said. “Rather, they wanted people to believe they only sent the letters at his family’s request.”
She added: “The reason they looked awkward on the video was probably because they were trying to apologize for something they weren’t sorry for — almost as if they believed their long-term friend was innocent. You cannot craft an apology statement, let alone deliver it on video when you don’t believe you did anything wrong.”
McPherson echoed those sentiments during a conversation about celebrity apologies in August
McPherson told Insider that for an apology to land with fans, celebrities typically have to own up to the accusations, explain why the incident occurred, and promise the behavior will change.
“I’ve noticed that fans and the public give grace and redemption to the people who admit their faults. For the people who try to skirt these issues, they get stuck,” she said.
But she also acknowledged that avoiding backlash is a near-impossible feat for stars.
“People love pointing fingers at others. No one gets off scot-free nowadays without some explanation for why it happened,” McPherson said.
