Actors Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have apologised for writing character letters on behalf of Danny Masterson.
The pair have faced severe criticism for writing letters to a judge defending the character of Masterson, who earlier this week was convicted of the rape of two women and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.
The trio starred in hit TV comedy series, That '70s Show, between the years 1988 and 2006, and have remained close friends since.
Posting a video on Instagram, Kunis and Kutcher, who are married, apologised if the letters "undermined the testimony of the victims or retraumatised them in any way."
Kutcher began the one minute-long video by saying, "We are aware of the pain that has been caused by the character letters that we wrote on behalf of Danny Masterson."
Kunis added, "We support victims. We have done this historically through our work and will continue to do so in the future".
Kutcher explained the origins of the letters, saying, "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, relative to the sentencing."
"The letters were not written to question the legitimacy of the judicial system or the validity of the jury's ruling," Kunis added, before Kutcher picked up again: "They were intended for the judge to read, and not to undermine the testimony of the victims or retraumatise them in any way.
"We would never want to do that. And we're sorry if that has taken place."
Kunis finished the video with, "Our heart goes out to every single person who's ever been a victim of sexual assault, sexual abuse or rape."
In the letters, Kutcher described Masterson as a "role model", while Kunis said he had an "innate goodness".
