“And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” That was 2005, on a hot mic.
Two years earlier, actor Danny Masterson r*ped two women at his home. His victims, former Scientologists, say church officials told them what happened to them wasn’t r*pe, and that church policy kept them from going to the police.
They went anyway. His first trial ended in a hung jury. They testified again. In 2023, a jury convicted him.
On Tuesday, three appeals judges unanimously upheld the verdict, rejecting every argument he made, including his claim that the trial was biased against his religion.
He’s 50. He won’t be eligible for parole for more than 20 years. His lawyers say they’ll take it to the California Supreme Court. We don’t wish him good luck.
Meanwhile, the man on that hot mic was found liable for sexual abuse by a New York jury in 2023. The judge later wrote that what the jury found was r*pe “as many people commonly understand” the word.
Now, he resides in the White House.
The women in Masterson’s case were told to stay quiet. They didn’t.
They were told it wasn’t r*pe. A jury said it was.
That’s what accountability and justice look like. Now imagine it applied to everyone.
If you need support, call RAINN at 1-800-656-4673 or visit
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