Actor James Franco went onto a podcast earlier this week to discuss some of his past sexual misconduct. The interview podcast was released Thursday and hosted by Sirius XM’s Jess Cagle, and Franco claims that he no longer wants anyone to have to speak up on his behalf because of his silence. However, lawyers of those sexually harassed have other things to say.
According to The Washington Post, this is the first time in 4 years that the 43-year-old is discussing the allegations. Franco claims that in the “silence, in the vacuum of me speaking out, now my family and friends have had to answer for me. And I don’t think that’s right. I don’t want anybody to have to answer for me.”
In 2018 reports came out where 5 women accused the actor of inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior. And the year after, actresses Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal sued the actor, two of his business partners, and acting school Studio 4 for the exploitation of women.
The men who were sued were alleged to have been acting sexually toward many of the female students, going so far as to tempt the women with acting jobs and other opportunities. Though the claims were denied, Franco and the other defendants ultimately settled and paid out $2.2 million.
While Franco admitted to sleeping with students from his acting school, he denied the idea that he created the school with the intention of sexual exploitation. He says he failed to factor in the power imbalance between himself and the aspiring actresses.
Yahoo reports that some students complained about nudity requirements, including some students being filmed naked so that Franco could select students for a master class.
“I am so sorry that that was ever believed by anyone,” he said. “I truly am. That is the last thing that I ever did or would have ever wanted. Truly, I never saw any of those auditions.” He even denies that it was his job to pick students for the alleged class.
The actresses’ attorneys claim that “in addition to being blind about power dynamics, Franco is completely insensitive to, and still apparently does not care about, the immense pain and suffering he put his victims through with this sham of an acting school.”
Franco also claims that he has a sex addiction, that this arrived after he became sober of an alcohol addiction, according to The Guardian. He says that “at the time I was not clearheaded” and “it’s such a powerful drug.” He also claims that we was sober from alcohol the entire time he was dealing with his sex addiction, for over 20 years.
The lawyers don’t want anyone to confuse the podcast interview as the actor taking accountability for his actions. Instead, they accuse Franco of attempting to avoid backlash before the holidays.
Some students also reportedly worked on some of the actor’s projects, Tither-Kaplan describing that she had been part of an orgy scene and that Franco had removed some of her plastic protective gear during filming. The plastic was worn over her private area, and he’d also reportedly removed the gear from other actresses as well.
However, Franco also denies this. “I never took a guard off anyone, ever, in my life,” he said. “It just didn’t happen,” though he did admit that an intimacy coordinator would have been beneficial for that set. He does realize, also, that his being famous doesn’t exactly make it easy for others to communicate their discomfort.
“What I couldn’t see is that when I’m out in the middle of Ohio and I’ve got all these up-and-coming actors, I’m James Franco, and they want to keep working with me. So if they feel uncomfortable about something, they don’t necessarily have an outlet to go and say, ‘I feel uncomfortable.’”
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