There’s a good reason material “resurfaces” on social media.
It’s payback time.
The latest example? Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis penned letters of support for fellow “That ’70s Show” alum Danny Masterson. The actor was convicted on two counts of rape earlier this month and faces a total of 30 years in prison.
Kutcher and Kunis, now married, pleaded with the judge to be lenient during the sentencing phase of the trial, presuming their letters wouldn’t be leaked to the press.
Too late.
Both spoke positively about their time working with Masterson and said he helped them steer clear of some of Hollywood’s more seductive elements, like drugs.
Once news of their support hit the web, the married stars produced an apology video via Instagram.
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Their actions dumped chum in the social media waters regardless of one’s take on the letter-writing campaign. And the social justice sharks quickly swam to the scene.
For Kutcher, that meant a 20-year-old clip from his show “Punk’d” “resurfaced” in which he jokingly described waiting for pretty, under-age stars like the Olsen twins and Hillary Duff to turn 18.
Crude? Yes. Why bring it up now? Cancel Culture, that’s why.
And there’s more.
Another clip “resurfaced” in which Kutcher admitted to kissing Kunis, then 14, on the set of “That ’70s Show” following a dare proposed by Masterson.
In the viral clip, Kunis reveals that Masterson once bet Kutcher $10 to French kiss her while filming an episode of their Fox sitcom “That ’70s Show.” The actors are in good spirits about the incident, but the clip has amassed over four million views and counting in the days after Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life for rape.
This Cancel Culture two-step requires unofficial coordination. Part one happens on social media, of course.
The second part?
News outlets eager to spread the word about the “outrage” without any sense of perspective, echoing the faux alarm over events that happened long ago. If no one cared at the time, why should anyone care now?
It’s simple. Cancel culture.
It’s relentless, unforgiving and meant to inflict maximum professional harm on the target. The passage of time doesn’t matter. Whether Kunis was offended then, or now, is also immaterial. Nor do the Olsen twins or Duff have any say in the matter.
No one is actually outraged by events we collectively shrugged at 20-plus years ago. It’s a form of performance art. Nothing more.
The woke mob wants to punish Kutcher for penning that letter. We’ll have to wait and see if they get a new social media scalp in the process.
The post How Ashton Kutcher Stepped into the Perfect Cancel Culture Trap appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.