A remark TV host Conan O’Brien made to actor Danny Masterson in a 2004 interview clip looked eerily prescient after it resurfaced on social media Thursday.
In a video of an episode of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” the actor made a racy joke that took on a much darker connotation after Masterson was sentenced Thursday to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women.
“I’ve heard about you,” Conan replied as the two bantered, “and you’ll be caught soon.”
“I know you will,” he added.
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Masterson was convicted in May of rape and sentenced Thursday to 30 years to life in prison. The incidents took place from 2001 to 2003, and the “Conan” episode aired on Dec. 22, 2004. But it took years before he was arrested: The women said they had been discouraged from coming forward by Scientology officials. Once they did, the investigation into their allegations took three years. Masterson was arrested in June 2020.
“Danny Masterson sentenced to 30 years to life for raping 2 women….Conan knew,” the person who shared the video on X, formerly Twitter, alleged.
In 2004, Masterson appeared on “Conan” to promote the seventh season of “That ’70s Show,” the Fox sitcom in which he played Hyde.
The men talked about sports for much of the interview, then Conan pointed out that Masterson didn’t have a Long Island accent despite having grown up there. Masterson said his accent does pop up when he uses certain words, and said that his friend Bodhi Elfman — another celebrity member of the Church of Scientology — teased him about it.
“Hi, my name is Danny Masterson,” Masterson said, quoting Elfman’s imitation of him. “Would you like to touch my balls?”
“Why are you asking people to do that? That’s the more important question,” Conan said, laughing. “Accent aside.”
“I mean, you got ’em,” Masterson replied. “Everyone should grab them.”
After Conan’s joke about Masterson being “caught,” the actor jokingly agreed.
“I will,” he deadpanned.
The video post on X, formerly Twitter, was viewed almost 700,000 times, and people responded with GIFs expressing shock and jokes about the coincidence.
“So when he gets out it’ll be That 70 Year Old Show,” one person said.
Others made references to the phenomenon of “The Simpsons” — which Conan wrote for and which also became known for joking projections that came to pass.
“Reminder that most of the episodes The Simpsons ‘predicted’ in had Conan O’Brien as a creative staff member,” one person said in a repost. “This Irishman is the REAL prophet.”
HuffPost reached out to Masterson’s attorneys and Conan’s representatives for comment but did not hear back.