Celebrity

Ashton Kutcher Responds to Social Media Backlash After Post About Women in Workplace

"Thank you everyone for the feedback on the questions I posted on LinkedIn. Good and bad. Already a learning experience," Kutcher tweeted Friday

Published on July 7, 2017 09:21 PM

Ashton Kutcher announced on Wednesday that he’s hosting a “live open dialog [sic] about gender equality in the work place [sic]” where he hopes to have insightful conversations with attendees.

However, the actor and start-up investor received backlash on social media after he released a list of questions and talking points on LinkedIn.

Some of Kutcher’s proposed Q&A segments included: “What advice should we be giving to female entrepreneurs?” and “What are the Rules for dating in the work place? Flirting?” as well as “What are the clear red lines?”

Many LinkedIn users and followers responded in the thread with negative feedback, while others took to Twitter with their reactions.

Paradigm CEO Joelle Emerson wrote: “Yikes. These are definitely *not* the right questions. Most rely on flawed assumptions and perpetuate problematic myths.” Another user tweeted: “This doesn’t help anyone, least of all the women its intended to help. It just creates a completely skewed paradigm w/ the same issues.”

Meanwhile a female Twitter user wrote: “HOW CAN THIS BE REAL.”

In a series of five tweets on Friday, Kutcher provided an explanation behind his decision to post the questions. “Thank you everyone for the feedback on the questions I posted on LinkedIn. Good and bad. Already a learning experience,” he tweeted.

“I’ve already offended some folks by asking the wrong questions. I’m certain given the sensitivity of the topic I will say other things wrong,” Kutcher wrote in his third post, along with the subsequent tweet: “Hope we can find space to be wrong in the pursuit of getting it right.”

Joining The Ranch star at the discussion will be Effie Epstein, his partner at Sound Ventures, which is a venture capital firm founded by Kutcher and Guy Oseary. The panel remains scheduled to be live streamed on Facebook on Monday morning.