James and Dave Franco were supposed to be featured in a New York TimesTalk event that was scheduled for today which has now been cancelled because of the recent allegations that have come up about James following the Golden Globes. As mentioned the other day, James won the Best Actor in a Comedy Musical award on Sunday while wearing a Time’s Up pin… and a lot of people brought up the time he creeped on a 17 year old on Instagram. Then Ally Sheedy tweeted and deleted about how the experience of working with him affected her attitude towards her career. And actress Violet Paley also shared details about an encounter with James on Twitter:
Cute #TIMESUP pin James Franco. Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17? After you had already been caught doing that to a different 17 year old?
— Violet Paley (@VioletPaley) January 8, 2018
There’s also this thread by actress Sarah Tither-Kaplan:
Hey James Franco, now that you have a Golden Globe why don't you give speaking roles that don't require nudity in your upcoming films to the dozens of women who have done full nudity + sex scenes in your indie films and art projects?
— Sarah Tither-Kaplan🌈 (@sarahtk) January 8, 2018
Violet followed up with this tweet about James apologising:
A couple weeks ago, James offered me & a few other girls an overdue, annoyed, convenient phone “apology”. I don’t accept, but maybe some other people’s lives would be made easier if he donated all of his earnings from “The Disaster Artist” to @RAINN01.
— Violet Paley (@VioletPaley) January 9, 2018
Sounds like he was trying to get ahead of it. Because, of course, it’s Oscar season.
Last year, during Oscar season, Casey Affleck pretty much coasted through the process without having to answer any questions about the alleged sexual harassment in his past. This year… well… is this is a sign of progress? James Franco was on with Stephen Colbert last night. And Stephen asked him about the accusations.
It was awkward, yes. It SHOULD be f-cking awkward. Because change is uncomfortable. If things are going to change, it’s going to have to get a lot more uncomfortable and awkward a lot more often. Of course it’s going to be awkward when you say that you “have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy” with… “the others”…
To be clear, there shouldn’t be a bare minimum. One person and one accusation is enough. The pattern with so many of these predators who’ve been exposed though is that there’s never just one. And he’s still in a position to broadcast his denial in a way that’s much louder than what’s available to his accusers. His denial also comes with a subtle attempt at undermining. This is what he’s doing when he repeatedly tells Colbert that it’s “on Twitter”. And it’s a tactic he’s tried before. Back in 2014, when it first emerged that he trying to get a hotel room with a 17 year old, he went on Kelly & Michael and admitted to being gross, but spun it into a story about him getting played on social media, like he was a victim of social media. Right. But weren’t you just using social media to further your predation?
Gawker has archived the texts he exchanged with “Lucy”, the teenager he was creeping on. Note the way he seems to manipulate her when he senses she’s pulling back.
“Don’t tell”
“If you don’t want to….”
But HE’s the one who got punked?
Now, four years later, James Franco is on national television characterising the accusations against him that were made on social media as “not accurate” while, in the next breath, talking about how he wants to listen more and that he believes in Time’s Up. So… what now? Well, he’s sweating. Oscar voters are deciding on the nominations right now, this week. Will James Franco get to proceed with award season? What’s your prediction?
