James Franco has addressed the impact that the controversy surrounding his sexual misconduct allegations, and resulting silence on the matter, had on his brother Dave Franco and long-time co-creative Seth Rogen.
Franco was accused by five young actors of sexual misconduct or exploitative behaviour.
All five were either students of his acting school, or mentees of Franco.
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This resulted in Franco being sued by two students, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, who attended Franco’s Studio 4 acting school which has since been shut down.
The pair settled with Franco out of court for £1.7 million.
The actor was also accused of ‘forcing’ a former girlfriend to perform oral sex on him in a car.
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Following the allegations made against him, Franco stayed silent in the media, leading attention to turn to others close to him.
His brother Dave has never commented on the controversy to either support or decry him. However, Dave’s wife Alison Brie was asked about the matter on a red carpet.
Speaking to E! news, Brie said in 2018: “I think that above all what we’ve always said is that it remains vital that anyone who feels victimized should and does have the right to speak out and come forward.
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“I obviously support my family, and not everything that’s been reported is fully accurate, so I think we’re waiting to get all the information.
“But of course, now is the time for listening, and that’s what we’re all trying to do.”
Seth Rogen also spoke in an interview with the Sunday Times in which he said he would not be working with James Franco moving forward.
Following this, Franco appeared on a podcast in 2021 on SiriusXM to discuss the allegations and resulting fallout.
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When asked about Rogen’s comments, Franco said they were ‘hurtful in context’, but went on to say: “He had to answer for me ‘cause I was silent.
“He had to answer for me, and that’s why I am doing this interview. I don't want Seth or my brother to have to answer for me anymore.”
Rogen’s full comments regarding the allegations were: “What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment.
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“I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that.
“The truth is that I have not and I do not plan to [work with Franco] right now.”
When asked in the SiriusXM podcast why he stayed silent for so long on the allegations, Franco said it was because he needed ‘to listen’ to ‘people that were upset with’ him.
Topics: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Film, TV and Film, Celebrity
Michael Slavin