The reports come from women who attended Franco’s acting school Studio 4 — or who otherwise considered the actor a mentor in the film industry. The first accusations came via social media on Sunday night, when Franco wore a “Time’s Up” pin to the Golden Globes. A former acting student, Sarah Tither-Kaplan, 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 Tither-Kaplan? (@sarahtk) January 8, 2018
“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,” she told the Los Angeles Times about a nude orgy scene Tither-Kaplan filmed with Franco three years ago. Over the course of filming, he removed the plastic guards covering the vaginas of several actresses’ while simulating oral sex.
Violet Paley, a 23-year-old actress who met Franco in early 2016 also tweeted in response to his Golden Globes appearance.
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
Last night, Franco was on Late Night with Seth Meyers, prior to the Times report, but after Tither-Kaplan and Paley’s tweets. Meyers asked him to address the allegations. “The [tweets] I read were not accurate,” the actor told Meyers. “But one of the things I’ve learned is that this is a conversation that obviously needs to be had. There are people, women and others, who have not been a part of this conversation. And I truly believe they need to be part of this conversation. So that’s why I was wearing the pin and I support that.”
Over on Stephen Colbert’s show, Franco gave an awkward response when asked about the allegations. In response to Colbert, Franco said: “Things that I heard were on Twitter are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice.”
In 2014, Franco admitted to trying to meet up with a 17-year-old girl, and he responded on Instagram with “I HOPE PARENTS KEEP THEIR TEENS AWAY FROM ME.” The New York Times canceled an event featuring Franco amid the allegations.