James Franco addresses misconduct allegations during Stephen Colbert interview
Actor James Franco at IFP's 27th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York on Nov. 27, 2017. Credit: Getty Images for IFP / Dimitrios Kambouris
James Franco, who wore a Time’s Up pin in support of the women’s anti-harassment movement as he accepted his Golden Globe Award Sunday for “The Disaster Artist,” has addressed harassment allegations posted about him afterward on social media.
“I wore it because I do support it,” Franco, 39, said Tuesday night on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” “I support it; I support change.”
He then turned to allegations tweeted beginning Sunday by three women: actress Violet Paley, actress-filmmaker Sarah Tither-Kaplan — a cast member of his online shorts series, “Making a Scene with James Franco,” and of his upcoming film drama “The Long Home” — and actress Ally Sheedy, whom he directed in Rattlestick Playwrights Theater’s “The Long Shrift” in 2014.
“There were some things on Twitter,” Franco said. “I haven’t read them; I’ve heard about them. First of all, I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy. I directed her in a play . . . I had nothing but a great time with her. Total respect for her. I have no idea why she was upset.”
In three vague tweets Sheedy has since deleted, the actress-author, 55, wrote of the Golden Globes, “Why is James Franco allowed in? Said too much. Nite love ya. . . . Ok wait. Bye. Christian Slater and James Franco at a table on @goldenglobes #MeToo . . . James Franco just won. Please never ever ask me why I left the film/tv business.” In a New York Times profile about the play in 2014, Sheedy had called Franco “a beautiful, generous man.”
“I don’t know,” Franco told Colbert. “I can’t speak for her. I don’t know. The others — look, in my life I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I’ve done. . . . Whenever I know that there is something wrong or needs to be changed, I make it a point to do it. The things that I heard that were on Twitter are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice, because they didn’t have a voice for so long.”
“The way I live my life — if there’s restitution to be made, I will make it,” he told Colbert. “If I’ve done something wrong, I will fix it. I have to.”
James Franco poses for photographers upon arrival at the 33rd Annual Film Independent Spirit Award Nominee Brunch at BOA Steakhouse on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Los Angeles (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP) Credit: Invision/AP / Vianney Le Caer
In response to the tweeted allegations, The New York Times dropped a Franco panel from a scheduled TimesTalk Wednesday, telling Newsday in a statement, “The event was intended to be a discussion of the making of the film, ‘The Disaster Artist.’ Given the controversy surrounding recent allegations, we’re no longer comfortable proceeding in that vein.”
Meanwhile, an NBC spokeswoman confirmed Franco remained a scheduled guest Wednesday night on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
