James Franco’s appearance at the Golden Globes with a Time’s Up pin on his lapel, caused many to question the actor and filmmaker’s historic behaviour towards women.
Now, five women have come forward to accuse Franco of sexually exploited them or behaving inappropriately, as alleged in an exclusive Los Angeles Times report. Four of the women were Franco’s students, with another said the actor was her mentor.
Forming acting student Sarah Tither-Kaplan has alleged that Franco removed safety guards covering other actresses’ vaginas while shooting the film The Long Home in a scene where Franco simulated oral sex on them.
“I feel there was an abuse of power, and there was a culture of exploiting non-celebrity women, and a culture of women being replaceable,” Tither-Kaplan said.
Two other women told the publication that the filmmaker allegedly got angry when they refused to shoot topless scenes.
On Wednesday, a New York Times event that James Franco was due to speak at was cancelled following several allegations of sexual misconduct against the actor aired on Twitter. You can read a full report of the accusations here.
Just hours after the event’s cancellation, Franco was pressed about the allegations by Stephen Colbert on The Late Show.
“Look, in my life I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I have done,” he told Colbert.
“I have to do that to maintain my well being. 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. So I don’t want to shut them down in any way.”
He added: “If I have done something wrong,” he added, “I will fix it – I have to.”
Franco’s attorney disputed all of the women’s allegations in the Los Angeles Times’ report and reiterated the actor’s comments on The Late Show.
