Actor Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have apologised for vouching for their former “That ’70s Show” co-star and friend Danny Masterson who was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women, Daily Mail reported.

The couple responded in a video after receiving backlash over supporting letters written to the judge in the case of Masterson in which he was convicted.

The 47-year-old actor and prominent Scientologist, who starred in the retro TV comedy for eight seasons until 2006, was convicted in June in a second trial. A jury deadlocked on a charge that he raped a third woman.

“We are aware of the pain that has been caused by the character letters we wrote on behalf of Danny Masterson,” Kutcher said at the beginning of the video.

“A couple months ago, Danny’s family reached out to us and they asked us to write character letters to represent the person that we knew for 25 years so that the judge could take that into full consideration relative to the sentencing,” he added.

Kunis said that the letters were not written to question the legitimacy of the judicial system or the validity of the jury’s ruling.

“They were intended for the judge to read. And not to undermine the testimonies of the victims or re-traumatize them in any way,” she added.

“We support victims. We have done this historically through our work and will continue to do so in the future,” Kunis stated.

“We would never want to do that. And we are sorry if that has taken place,” Kutcher remarked.

“Our heart goes out to every single person that has ever been a victim of sexual assault, sexual abuse or rape,” Mila said.