After winning the Golden Globe for best actor in The Disaster Artist and showing his support by wearing a Time’s Up pin, James Franco has been accused of sexually harassing some of his students. These women came forward on Twitter sharing how James would pressure them into doing nude scenes and remove plastic guards covering their vaginas.
One of his former students Sarah Tither-Kaplan told the Los Angeles Times, “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.” After his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes she tweeted, “Hey James Franco, nice #timesup pin at the #GoldenGlobes, remember a few weeks ago when you told me the full nudity you had me do in two of your movies for $100/day wasn’t exploitative because I signed a contract to do it? Times up on that!”
Sarah went on to tell the Los Angeles Times that in a nude orgy scene, James would remove the protective plastic guards covering actresses’ vaginas and simulate oral sex.
James’ attorney Michael Plonsker said, “The allegations about the protective guards are not accurate.” He also denies allegations that James got angry when students didn’t want to go topless at a shoot.
Violet Paley, who was James’ mentee also came forward on Twitter. “Cute #TIMESUP pin James Franco. Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis.”
Violet expounded more on the story and told the Los Angeles Times, “I was talking to him, all of a sudden his penis was out. I got really nervous, and I said, ‘Can we do this later?’ He was kind of nudging my head down, and I just didn’t want him to hate me, so I did it.” The two did have a consensual romantic relationship but she would have handled the incident differently if she could. “I would say, ‘No, stop, get out of my car.’ The power dynamic was really off.”
James has addressed these accusations on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He says he supports those who come forward but at that time, he didn’t know what the tweets were about. He finishes by saying, “I’m here to listen and learn and change my perspective where it’s off. I’m completely willing and want to.”
Well, time’s up, James, so you might want to start reflecting on your actions now.
[Nylon]
Photo courtesy of She Knows
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