this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2023
735 points (97.8% liked)

News

23268 readers
4893 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I thought this one was the most interesting as it addresses his crimes head on.

#Debra Jo Rup’s (who played the mom/Kitty Foreman) letter#

Dear Judge Olmedo,

My name is Debra, I am 72 years old, and I live in the mountains In Western Massachusetts. I am writing this letter on behalf of Danny Masterson.

I have known Danny and his family since 1998 when I began working with him on "That 70's Show". I am aware that Danny is convicted of 2 counts of forceable rape and, though it is so hard for me to wrap my head around this, I respect the law and the court. I always have.

But I would like to tell you about the young man I know. Danny was the leader of the "kids" on our show. He had the most acting experience and was a little bit older. He was well liked and very respected. One of the first things Danny did with them was to sit them all down (he had a little meeting) and had them al make a pact that no one would do drugs because of the nature of our show. The spotlight would be on them and he wanted everyone to succeed. I remember thinking that it was such a smart thing to do and something I never would have thought of. As a result, you never saw them in the tabloids. Danny made sure of that and I was so appreciative. They all kept their word.

Danny was always respectful and kind. On show days when the camera crew would come in, Danny was the one that shook each camera man's hand before we started. He knew everyone's name, where they lived and about their families. I did not. He was loved. Over the years Danny is one of the few that came to support me by seeing my shows in the theater. He brought his family sometimes. And it was a joy. And so appreciated. One night we went to dinner, he had dragged another cast member, his father and some friends to see me, and it was dark and late after theater. I had to get home in New York City so Danny called an Uber, paid for it and escorted me out. There are so many instances of things like this. He was just like that. Respectful and kind.

Wilmer Valderama asked the cast of 70's Show to go to his high school graduation. Danny and I were the only ones to go. I remember looking at him and dying. It was outside, in the valley, really hot, and he was a "V" alphabetically. We laughed so hard during that. It's a really nice memory. Danny just always showed up to support.

I knew Danny's family through work. I had worked with his brother Chris on another show and always saw his family hanging out in his dressing room. Danny's dressing room was above mine and Danny loved music. Many times I found myself going upstairs to ask him to turn it down and was always greeted with an apology, a grin and an instant fix. It's these little things that come to mind when I think of Danny. I later did his show ''The Ranch", he called me at home in Massachusetts. I hadn't done tv in awhile, and he offered it to me. I was so grateful and touched. I loved hearing him play with his daughter in the hallways - it was an awesome giggle.

So thank you for allowing me to-tell you about the Danny Masterson that I love I just read this letter back. It's so hard for me to express o paper but I understand that he is facing a lengthy sentence and I really wanted to tell you about these moments. He would take the time to do it for me.

Sincerely,

Debra Jo Rupp

[–] SpookyUnderwear@eviltoast.org 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

These letters are wild. Why? Why get involved? He's been convicted. Just stay out of it. Now you simply look like you're defending a convicted rapist. I don't care if it was my best friend. I'm not going to write a letter for a rapist asking for the judge to go easy on him because he was always nice to me.

[–] frogfruit@discuss.online 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably pressured by the church of scientology

[–] pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] frogfruit@discuss.online 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes. Supposedly it was Danny Masterson that recruited them. Some of them claim to no longer be involved with the church, but celebrities have been known to lie about that before, likely a church PR move to convince people they're totally not a cult and that people can leave any time.

[–] 30mag@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I didn't know that. These people are dead to me.

[–] drewdarko@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because the justice system isn’t perfect and it’s possible for innocent people to get convicted.

[–] PizzasDontWearCapes@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Is it reasonable to surmise that's what happened here

This reeks of Scientology from front to back

[–] drewdarko@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How do you reasonably surmise if someone is being falsely charged? I don’t know what role Scientology plays in this. What brings them up?

[–] PizzasDontWearCapes@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If you're interested, there is a lot more background on this case

One troubling aspect is that the victims were coerced by the Scientologists to not charge Masterson, and instead, handle this within their cult realm