After facing backlash for his support of That ’70s Show co-star Danny Masterson, Ashton Kutcher decided to step down as chairman of the board at Thorn, an organization he co-founded to combat child sex abuse.
Masterson, a longtime friend of Kutcher’s, was sentenced to 30 years to life in jail last week for raping two women. Kutcher and his spouse, Mila Kunis, f wrote letters to LA Superior Court Charlaine Olmedo defending Masterson and questioning his guilt.
According to E! News, the 45-year-old No Strings Attached actor wrote a statement to Time magazine today explaining why he parted ways from Thorn.
“After my wife and I spent several days of listening, personal reflection, learning, and conversations with survivors and the employees and leadership at Thorn, I have determined the responsible thing for me to do is resign as Chairman of the Board, effectively immediately,” he said.
He added, “I cannot allow my error in judgment to distract from our efforts and the children we serve.”
Kutcher admitted in the statement, which was published in full by the US news outlet, that by writing a letter in support of Masterson, he had damaged the organization’s mission.
Ashton said, “As you know, I have worked for 15 years to fight for people who are sexually exploited.” He added, “Victims of sexual abuse have been historically silenced and the character statement I submitted is yet another painful instance of questioning victims who are brave enough to share their experiences. This is precisely what we have all worked to reverse over the last decade.”
He concluded with a “heartfelt apology to all victims of sexual violence and everyone at Thorn who I hurt by what I did.” The father of two also stated that he is “proud” of Thorn’s work over the past 10 years.
Mila Kunis, who is now hitched to Kutcher and wrote a letter of support for Masterson, also plans to step down as an observer on the board.