Why are celebrities rushing to defend convicted rapist Danny Masterson? | Moira Donegan

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis's support lies on a spectrum of rape apologism and intimidation that shields predators

In the video they are wearing T-shirts, looking unkempt. Maybe a consultant from a crisis PR firm told them that it would be a bad look to appear on camera in the expensive getups they usually don for public appearances; maybe they just didn't think that the task warranted a shower. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, married actors, sit before a wood-paneled background that might be a backyard fence, or the outer wall of a pool house. They are there to address the letters they recently wrote to a Los Angeles court, attesting to the good character of their friend Danny Masterson.

Kutcher and Kunis were posting the video - well, not to apologize, exactly, since they didn't. But perhaps to clean up the mess of bad publicity that had resulted from the letters. Masterson, Kutcher and Kunis's costar from That '70s Show, is now a convicted serial rapist; the letters were meant to convince the judge that he was somehow also a good person, one who did not deserve severe punishment. The clip, which appeared on Instagram, featured the couple speaking from a script. Their faces were fixed in uncannily still emotionlessness. We support victims," Kunis said to the camera, her eyes steely and her voice containing no conviction.