The Problem With Ashton Kutcher’s Return Is Everything That Came Before It

Ashton Kutcher is back on screen, but the past is still very much in the room.

The actor has landed a high-profile new role in The Beauty, a glossy FX series created by Ryan Murphy. On paper, it looks like a clean comeback for Ashton Kutcher. In reality, it’s happening on a stage littered with unresolved anger, old clips, and questions that won’t go away.

Much of that anger traces back to 2023, when Kutcher and his wife, Mila Kunis, wrote character letters asking for leniency for their former co-star Danny Masterson. Masterson was later sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women. The letters sparked immediate backlash, especially from survivors and advocacy groups, who saw the support as deeply hurtful.

Kutcher eventually called the letters an “error in judgement” and stepped down as chairman of Thorn, the anti-child sexual exploitation organisation he helped found. Thorn had long been central to his public image: proof that he wasn’t just a movie star, but someone doing serious work behind the scenes. His resignation only sharpened the sense of disappointment.

The phrase “error in judgement” didn’t land well. To many critics, it sounded like corporate damage control rather than real moral clarity. People weren’t just asking what went wrong — they wanted to know why that judgement existed at all.

Then came the resurfacing of old footage. Clips from the early 2000s showed Kutcher making a comment about Hilary Duff, who was 15 at the time, saying she was “one of the girls we’re all waiting for to turn 18.” Once brushed off as edgy humour, the remark now reads very differently. It became another reminder of how casually troubling attitudes were once packaged as jokes.

More scrutiny followed because of Kutcher’s past association with Sean 'Diddy' Combs. Combs was acquitted of the most serious charges at his 2025 trial but convicted on prostitution-related counts and sentenced to 50 months in prison. Critics pointed out Kutcher’s silence during the trial, which seemed at odds with his long-promoted humanitarian values.

All of this forms the backdrop for The Beauty. In the series, Kutcher plays “The Corporation,” a villain who runs a trillion-dollar empire selling an injectable product that promises transformation. It’s a story about power, image-making, and exploitation — themes that feel uncomfortably close to the real-world conversation now surrounding him. The irony is hard to miss, and audiences are unlikely to ignore it.

There is a path back. Hollywood has always been forgiving, especially if the work is good and attention moves on. But the mood around Kutcher’s return is noticeably colder. It reflects a broader impatience with powerful men who orbit harm, apologise only when exposed, and then hope the next project will do the work that real accountability never quite did.

For now, The Beauty may succeed as television. Whether it succeeds as a reset for Ashton Kutcher is a much harder question — and one the public doesn’t seem ready to answer kindly.