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Ashton Kutcher Goes After Village Voice Advertisers in Fight Over Underage Prost

Saturday, July 2, 2011 9:53 AM
Furious over a Village Voice story that argued he and wife Demi Moore have used inflated numbers to raise awareness of underage prostitution, Ashton Kutcher has started reaching out to the publication's advertisers. A Voice story reported this week that there are far fewer teenage prostitutes in the country that Kutcher and others have argued. While Kutcher and other advocates have said the number of those at risk is between 100,000 and 300,000, the Voice cited arrest data to suggest the number of underage prostitutes is actually in the hundreds or thousands. The Voice also argued for more funding for victims of child prostitution. Kutcher attacked the story on Twitter Thursday, suggesting The Voice wasn't serious about the issue; The Voice invited Kutcher to dispute specific facts within the story. And that's when Kutcher took the nuclear option, accusing The Voice of allowing advertising of underage prostitutes in its publication. Seizing on his vast Twitter influence, he began tweeting to advertisers directly. "Hey @AmericanAir," he wrote to American Airlines. "Are you aware that you are advertising on a site that supports the Sale of Human Beings (slavery)?" "We will address this IMMEDIATELY. Can you please DM us detail of the site, including a link?" the company responded. Kutcher later tweeted that the company told him the ads would be down soon. The Voice replied with a lengthy blog post standing by the findings of its story and calling for support of a Senate bill to provide funding for shelter and counseling for underage prostitutes. The Voice targeted Kutcher because of his involvement in the Demi and Ashton Foundation (DNA), which seeks to end human trafficking. Last year, the pair launched a campaign titled "Real Men Don't Buy Girls," which the Voice played off of with its cover line, "Real Men Get Their Facts Straight." Michael Lacey, executive editor of Village Voice Media, denied to TheWrap that the Voice runs ads promoting underage prostitutes in its pages. A spokesperson for American Airlines tells TheWrap that Kutcher's claim about American pulling its advertising from The Voice "appears to be rumor and speculation. I am not aware of any such action."

3 comments

  • Dudester
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    13 years ago
    When the term "underage" or "child prostitute" is used,the public's image is that of a defenseless 11 or 12 year old. In truth, it's usually a 16 or 17 year old runaway. I back the village voice that the number most likely under 10k nationwide. If it was in the 100-300k number that Cougar Demi and boy toy Ashton cite, every strip club across the country would have underage strippers and 11 year olds would be working hotels. The penalties are just too harsh for it to be as widespread as Cougar and boy toy say. With that said though, Demi was just barely 18 when she bared all and spread her legs to show her va jay jay in Oui magazine. Most likely, she was working the casting couch before then and this has affected her judgement.
  • inno123
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    13 years ago
    If there is underage prostitution it generally isn't going to be found in on-the-radar places like the VV and their website [view link]. That being said, people aren't built with an indicator like a butterball turkey that pops out when they are 'fully cooked'. Might the girl advertizing herself as 19 actually be younger? Certainly. Just like the girl advertizing herself as 24 might actually be in her late 30's. Id be willing to guess that there are likely a lot more of the latter.
  • txtittyfan
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    13 years ago
    The Houston Press just published an article debunking the numbers. Their research and analysis showed the facts were grossly mis-stated, and based on faulty assumptions.
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