My understanding is that the letter he and Mila wrote in defense of Danny was after Danny was found guilty. They were asking for a more lenient sentence.

“Innocent until proven guilty” isn’t really the problem. That’s the assumption the government has to make, and it’s a pretty good idea.

He’s not the government nor is he acting in a legal capacity. It’s perfectly fine - it’s even perfectly logical - to look at the evidence brought against someone and decide that they’re guilty. I think Trump is guilty as fuck. It doesn’t mean he’s going to get a guilty verdict, but he sure as hell did the things he’s charged with, and more.

Ashton’s position was that his friend was innocent. Despite the testimony of the women involved, he played coy. Again, that’s his right, but it’s something you’d expect from someone with a more obviously misogynistic history. A better statement would have been something like “I know Danny, and I can’t imagine him doing that. I hope he didn’t commit those rapes and that he is found innocent, but the women deserve to be heard and I hope justice is done.” He could even leave off the bit about justice if he’s still wanting to go to Danny’s holiday party.

Anyway, what people are really pissed about is that, after all the evidence was presented and the guilty verdict was returned, both he and Mila wrote letters to the judge asking for leniency in sentencing and stating that he was not a danger to anyone. That’s throwing shit right into the faces of the women he raped. They chose to side with their Hollywood friend over the victims he raped, because they think he’s still a nice guy despite it all. It’s offensive to everyone, but especially to rape victims. It’s hard enough to go to trial and get a conviction for a rapist. It is estimated that over 450,000 rapes occur in the US each year. There’s only about 3000 rape convictions per year. That’s a less than 1% chance that a rape results in a conviction. It’s also a traumatic process for the victim, who faces everything from victim blaming to having to relive the event over and over and in public.

So, they’re both assholes in my book. No talent ass-clowns, if you like. I hope this stays around long enough to get them blacklisted. Let it be an albatross around their necks.