James Franco has received a heap of criticism over comments he made about his soured friendship with Seth Rogen.
Seth, 42, publicly cut off his Pineapple Express costar, 46, after he was accused of sexual misconduct.
Franco told Variety in a new interview, ‘I haven’t talked to Seth. I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it’s over. And not for lack of trying. I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me.’
After his statements, one person fired off on X: ‘James Franco taking a full page in the Hollywood Reporter to guilt trip Seth Rogan for not being his friend anymore because he’s a rapist is so wild. Even if he wasn’t a rapist, NOBODY owes you friendship.’
Someone else accused the filmmaker of ‘trying to make Seth look like the villain in this.’
James Franco has received a heap of criticism over comments he made about his soured friendship with Seth Rogen
Seth, 42, publicly cut off his Pineapple Express costar, 46, after he was accused of sexual misconduct; pictured in 2014
After James told Variety he’s tried to talk to Seth, one person wrote online, ‘NOBODY owes you friendship’
Someone else accused the filmmaker of ‘trying to make Seth look like the villain in this’
The person plainly added, ‘f**k james franco.’ Another internet user questioned, ‘why are we giving james franco a platform to begin with?’
In January of 2018 five women told the Los Angeles Times that James had been sexually inappropriate or exploitative with them. One detailed how James removed plastic guards from actress’ vulvas during a sex scene while simulating oral sex.
Two of the women, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, sued James in 2019, claiming that he tried to ‘create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education’ while they attended his Studio 4 acting school.
At the time, James denied the allegations via his attorney. He eventually settled the lawsuit for $2.2 million in July 2021.
Initially, when the allegations came out in 2018, Seth told Vulture that he would continue to work with James. In May 2021, he changed his position, telling Britain’s Sunday Times that he would not.
‘What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and 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,’ Seth told the publication.
He added that it was ‘not a coincidence’ he hasn’t worked with Franco in recent years, as he faced sexual misconduct allegations in 2014 and again in 2018.
James addressed the allegations for the first time on a SiriusXM podcast in December 2021.
Another internet user questioned, ‘why are we giving james franco a platform to begin with?’
The former friends collaborated on several movies together in the early aughts; pictured in a scene from 2008’s Pineapple Express
Speaking on The Jess Cagle Podcast with Julia Cunningham in 2021, he admitted he ‘did sleep with students, and that was wrong,’ and said he could ‘never be faithful to anybody’ before he met now-girlfriend Izabel Pakzad; pictured October 18
Speaking on The Jess Cagle Podcast with Julia Cunningham, he admitted he ‘did sleep with students, and that was wrong,’ and said he could ‘never be faithful to anybody’ before he met now-girlfriend Izabel Pakzad.
The star blamed his past infidelities and inappropriate behavior on sex addiction, which he turned to after quitting alcohol as a teen.
‘It’s such a powerful drug,’ he explained. ‘I got hooked on it for 20 more years. The insidious part of that is that I stayed sober from alcohol all that time.’
‘And I went to meetings all that time. I even tried to sponsor other people. So in my head, it was like, ‘Oh, I’m sober. I’m living a spiritual life,’ where on the side, I’m acting out now in all these other ways, and I couldn’t see it.’
James said he has been in sex addiction recovery since 2016 and has ‘been doing a lot of work’ to change.
