Taryn Manning Continues Defending Convicted Rapist Danny Masterson in Another Bizarre Rant, Also Claims ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Was “Abusive” 

Orange is the New Black actress Taryn Manning is slamming the hit Netflix show for the way it handled her character’s sexual assault, claiming it made her into “the spokesperson for rape” when facing the press.

Manning, who starred on OITNB from 2013 to 2019 as Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett, posted a since-deleted video to Instagram tearing into the show’s producers for her character’s sexual assault storyline.

“On Orange Is the New Black, which most people know me for, thinking that that’s my only project, it was written that I was raped. I was raped on the show, remember?” Manning said, per Entertainment Weekly. “No one ever told me that, when I had to hit the press, the amount of the wall I’d be up against. ‘So what was it like to be raped on the show?’ The most divisive, pervasive topic on the planet, and I had to stand up and be the spokesperson for rape. That’s abusive to me.”

She appeared to accuse series creator Jenji Kohan and executive producers Neri Kyle Tannenbaum and Tara Herrmann of not preparing her to do press after the dramatic storyline.

“Nobody ever told me what I would be up against. You just dropped that on me in that season, you just dropped it on me. ‘Oh, she’s just going to get raped, you’re just going to have to deal with it in the press.’ How abusive that was,” she said.

The actress then added that she was making her video in response to another video that she previously posted in which she defended actor Danny Masterson, who was recently convicted of rape and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

Though she maintained that she was “not saying Danny is innocent” in her latest video, she said, “Don’t come at me, that I’m the problem. I’m sitting here having compassion for someone that’s going to jail for the rest of your lives, and you’re still not satisfied, because you’re haters and [you’re] demons.”

She continued, “What if we remember him as our friend? What if we didn’t know that he had this tendency inside of him? What if we remember the history of our friend… is it wrong to know that that’s our friend, and that’s somebody that’s not just all bad and not all good, as you’re not all bad and you’re not all good?”

In her previous video, Manning had accused people of “crucifying” Masterson in the wake of his sentencing “as if he’s not already suffering,” per Page Six. In both videos, she referred to Masterson as a friend.

She also accused Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis of “backpedaling” after the couple issued an apology when their letters in support of Masterson were leaked after the sentencing. She urged her fans to “stand for something in life.”

Five women had come forward accusing the actor of sexual assault by 2017. Masterson was later charged with raping three women in separate incidents between 2001 and 2003. At the time of the assaults, he was still starring on That ’70s Show alongside Kutcher and Kunis on ABC.

His first trial ended in a mistrial before he was convicted on two of the three charges earlier this year.

If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.