Some might say it’s unfair to lump Russell Brand and Mila Kunis into any category together, but both have been at the center of fierce news cycles over the past 10 days due to revelations that have threatened to “cancel” them professionally and culturally.
They also became break-out film stars in the same 2008 hit comedy, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Fans of the the Judd Apatow-produced film are now left to wonder if they can still enjoy the movie — which features a mix of crass humor, smart writing and heartfelt romance — with the same unbridled pleasure. A still photo from the film has circulating online.
this photo isn’t aging well in 2023 pic.twitter.com/G83DBdfBcs
— T (@trinawatters) September 16, 2023
The revelations about Brand have been highly disturbing. The comedian and actor, who built his reputation on bad-boy lasciviousness, has been accused in U.K. news investigative reports of raping, sexually assaulting and emotionally abusing four women, including a 16-year-old girl with whom he had a three-month relationship.
These alleged abuses occurred from 2006 to 2013, when he was a rising star in British TV and in such American films as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Get Him to the Greek” and a remake of “Arthur.” Brand, now best known for his provocative “Under the Skin” podcast, has vehemently denied the allegations of assaulting anyone, but now the allegations are in the hands of the London Metropolitan Police, the Hollywood Reporter said Monday.
Meanwhile, Kunis personally didn’t harm anyone but she’s reportedly worried about being “cancelled” because she praised the “excellent moral character” of her longtime friend and TV co-star, Danny Masterson, after he’d been convicted of two counts of rape.
After “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” in which Kunis played the love interest of star/writer Jason Segal, she became one Hollywood’s most likable and relatable female stars. But Kunis did some damage to that good will when she, along with her husband Ashton Kutcher, wrote glowing character letters about Masterson, ahead of his Sept. 7 sentencing to 30 years to life in prison.
Kunis and Kutcher then made things worse for themselves when they issued a much maligned video apology. Both the letters and the apology video, in which Kunis almost appeared baffled and annoyed by the controversy, convinced much of the internet that the actor didn’t seem to understand how her “tone-deaf” defense of Masterson made her complicit in a “rape culture” that allowed her celebrity friend to escape accountability for his crimes for nearly 20 years.
With the double-whammy of the Brand and Kunis controversies, fans of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” may think that they have to cancel this film too, especially because of Brand’s character, a flamboyant British rocker named Aldous Snow, whose boasts about his love-making prowess are used for comic effect.
After a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and U.K.’s Channel 4 revealed the sexual assault allegations against Brand, the Daily Mail unearthed some telling comments made about about the comedian by Kristen Bell, who played the title character …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
