‘That 90s Show’ Is Already Tainted by the Legacy of Danny Masterson
A spinoff of the popular sitcom That ’70s Show is coming and reuniting (most of) the original cast. In true sequel fashion, the series, That ’90s Show, will take place with a character of a new generation, Leia Forman (of course Erica would name his daughter Leia), who goes to visit her grandparents Kitty and Red during the summer. Like the previous series, this one will also play on nostalgia, but this time with the ’90s.
Eric Forman (Topher Grace), Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon), Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis), Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), and Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) have all been confirmed to return to the series, but there is one notable person missing: Danny Masterson. Masterson, who played Steven Hyde on the show, is currently on trial for three incidents of sexual assault, which allegedly took place in 2001 and 2003. The news first emerged in March of 2017 and led to him being removed from the Netflix show The Ranch, which he co-starred in with Ashton Kutcher.
A&E’s Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath was supposed to focus on the sexual assault allegations against Masterson, who is a Scientologist, but it was delayed repeatedly.
“We are experiencing classic Scientology attacks,” one of Masterson’s accusers told The Daily Beast. “The week that the decision was made by the A&E network to move forward with the airing of the episode we did for Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, letters started circulating from various sources directed at A&E and Disney calling for the show to be taken off the air, declaring the show and its contributors to be bigots and many other hurtful names. And just this week we discover that at least one of these letters was in fact forged and done without authorization. We were put through these manufactured attacks. Scientology pushed and circulated these letters. The very organization that silenced us victims when we reported being violently raped, is still actively willing to use any means—there is seemingly no end to what they are willing to do just to insure our voices are taken from us.”
They continued on to say, “The campaign to silence us has sadly worked. Our voices will again NOT be heard. And while Scientology carries on with its campaign, we are now processing the weak apology from A&E for grossly misleading us and letting us spend all these hours working with their production company these many weeks, only to be told, no. Your voices are to remain unheard.”
Masterson may not be returning, but his connection to the cast and the franchise, will always be a dark shadow over the project. His trial is scheduled for August 29, 2022, and hopefully it can be an opportunity for his alleged victims to speak at last.
(via Vulture, image: Fox)
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