New York Times Cancels James Franco Event After Sexual Misconduct Allegations

James and Dave Franco were scheduled to discuss “The Disaster Artist” in Manhattan

James Franco Dave Franco
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

The New York Times has cancelled its TimesTalks event with James and Dave Franco, according to the event’s web page.

The event, which was scheduled to take place Wednesday at the Kaufman Music Center in Manhattan, would have been a Q&A with the filmmaking brothers about their latest film, “The Disaster Artist,” which won James Franco a Golden Globe on Sunday for his performance as “The Room” director Tommy Wiseau.

The cancellation comes two days after several women accused Franco of sexual misconduct shortly after he won his Golden Globe. Actress Violet Paley accused him on Twitter of forcing her to perform oral sex on him, and said also that he once asked one of her friends, then 17 years old, to come to a hotel he was staying at. In a follow-up tweet, Paley said that “a couple of weeks ago” Franco called her and “a few other girls” to apologize for past behavior.

Filmmaker Sarah Tither-Kaplan also accused Franco of misconduct, saying that the director had her do nude scenes in two of his films for $100 a day, and that he later told her that this wasn’t exploitative because she signed a contract.

In both tweets, Paley and Tither-Kaplan noted that Franco, like many attendees at the Golden Globes, was wearing a pin supporting Time’s Up, a new anti-harassment movement aimed at stopping sexual misconduct in harassment both inside and outside of Hollywood.

Representatives for Franco and for the New York Times did not immediately respond to requests for comment from TheWrap.

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