After several months, Seth Rogen has finally weighed in on the sexual misconduct accusations waged against his friend and longtime comedic collaborator James Franco, saying he’ll continue to work with Franco on future projects.
In an interview with Vulture, Franco was asked about his thoughts on the #MeToo movement, and he said that he had remained silent for so long because he didn’t feel his perspective was important to the cause.
“I’m friends with these people and I’m a dude. All that combined makes me the last person who should be talking about this,” he said. “There are so many people with real things to contribute to the #MeToo discussion that anything I say is not going to add anything useful,” he added.
Franco and Rogen have worked on several films together, including “Pineapple Express,” “This Is The End,” and most recently, the animated comedy “Sausage Party.” But when asked if he would make another film with Franco, Rogen replied: “Yes.”
Franco was accused of sexual misconduct by five women in January, just days after winning a Golden Globe for his performance in “The Disaster Artist.” Four accusers were Franco’s students at his acting school, and another said the actor was her mentor. They said he behaved in inappropriate or sexually exploitative ways. “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,” one accuser, Sarah Tither-Kaplan, told the Los Angeles Times in January.
Immediately following the accusations, a “Disaster Artist” Q&A featuring Franco was cancelled by The New York Times, and the actor was digitally removed from the cover of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue.
However, Megan Abbott, a writer for the HBO series “The Deuce,” said in February that Franco would return for the show’s second season. Franco plays a lead role in the series, and is also an executive producer and directed two of the show’s episodes.
After the accusations were made, Franco discussed them in an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”
“There are people that need to be heard,” Franco said. “I have my own side of this story, but I believe in these people that have been underrepresented getting their stories out enough that I will hold back things that I could say, just because I believe in it that much,” he said. “So if I have to take a knock because I’m not going to try and actively refute things, then I will, because I believe in it that much.”