Ashton Kutcher
This comment about Hilary Duff, who was underage at the time, is causing a stir
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Recently, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis caused outrage with their statements about convicted rapist Danny Masterson. They have since apologized for it. Now a clip has come to light in which the actor makes a statement that seems pretty questionable today.
It’s about a video, an excerpt from Ashton Kutcher’s, 45, show “Punk’d”. The episode is from 2003, so it’s over 20 years old. The man lets himself in Mila Kunis, 40, made a statement that was meant to be funny at the time, but is anything but. A joke at the expense of a minor is definitely not something to laugh about in this day and age, when campaigns like #metoo and a generally much more sensitive approach to sexualized language prevail.
Ashton Kutcher shot over the target
The comment the actor made to get a laugh referred to fellow actress Hilary Duff, now 35, who was 15 at the time. Kutcher says in the clip: “Hilary Duff is in ‘Lizzie McGuire’ and she also has an album “She’s going to be in a movie called ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’. She’s one of those girls we can’t wait for to turn 18. Just like the Olsen twins.” He was clearly alluding to the fact that you would be committing a criminal offense if you approached the then 15-year-old sexually. Kutcher and Duff played side by side in the film in question – it is not known whether anything ever happened between them.
“Disgusting and creepy”
The clip has now emerged as a result of the character letters that Kutcher and Kunis wrote for the court about their series colleague Danny Masterson and is making the rounds online. The “Butterfly Effect” star now has to put up with a lot of critical comments. Many find his flippant saying “disgusting” and “creepy”.
Of course, you have to keep in mind that the video is over 20 years old and the then 25-year-old certainly just wanted to get a laugh with his saying. Sexually connoted jokes about minors weren’t funny in the early 2000s, but awareness of them was perhaps different back then. So it’s no wonder that Ashton Kutcher is now facing a lot of backlash.
Sources used: Twitter.com, dailymail.co.uk