Ashton Kutcher has done it again.
Despite recently enraging sports fans by callously defending the firing of child rape endorser Joe Paterno, infuriating millions by mocking country music, and pissing off fans of Apple by accepting the lead in a Steve Jobs biopic despite being a corporate shill under FTC investigation (read all about it here), amazingly Ashton Kutcher has found a way to top himself.
And I’m not talking about his philandering penis driving this fame-hungry husk into rehab.
No, Ashton Kutcher has outdone himself by appearing in a racially insensitive ad for PopChips, a brand of potato chips that are cooked using high pressure instead of being baked or fried.
He must have been baked or fried to have agreed to this in the first place.
Even Mike Myers had enough sense to not dress up in brownface when making The Love Guru, and that decision alone made his portrayal of a low-rent Deepak Chopra less offensive despite trying to milk other Indian stereotypes for laughs.
Not exactly Austin Powers.
The ad is presented as a commercial for the fictional online dating site WorldWideLovers.com (an address which links directly to the PopChips Facebook page). In the spot, Kutcher appears as a variety of different characters, including that of 39 year old Raj, a Bollywood film producer, who dresses and speaks in an offensively stereotypical Indian manner.
Racial insensitivity aside, after watching the ad it’s hard not to think it would have been funnier had a more talented comedic actor played the array of oddballs, which also include a motorcycle enthusiast, pot-loving hippie, and an effeminate fashionista. Instead, the entire thing falls flat and just feels like the regularly bland Kutcher got into a costume tickle trunk.
Biker douchebag.
Stoner douchebag.
Flamboyant douchebag.
Enormous douchebag.
Although PopChips has already altered their ad campaign and removed the offensive character, the damage has already been done. And while PopChips founder and CEO Keith Belling has since made a public apology on the PopChips blog and is currently in full damage control mode, Kutcher himself has yet to comment on his latest act of epic douchebaggery.
Maybe he’s busy hiring someone to wear this shirt and follow him around.