New Allegations Derail James Franco's Oscar Campaign

By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | January 10, 2018 |

By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | January 10, 2018 |

Sunday night James Franco won a Golden Globe for his work in The Disaster Artist. But that he took to the stage at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association event wearing a Time’s Up pin drew outrage from women who say he is part of the problem.

It’s … rich of James Franco to be wearing a Time’s Up pin 😐

— Doree Shafrir (@doree) January 8, 2018

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

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

Ally Sheedy also tweeted some thoughts, which she later deleted.

James Franco directed an Off-Broadway play in 2014 called The Long Shrift starring Ally Sheedy. The following was her reaction to his win tonight and the fact that he was even let into the award show at all. Also, Christian Slater is a beater. #GoldenGlobes #TIMESUP pic.twitter.com/RrvYnr3RjD

— Only4RM (@Only4RM) January 8, 2018

Whatever I still remember James Franco trying to pick up a teenager on Instagram

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) January 8, 2018

(We remember too.)

quick ask Franco about the difference between skeezing on undergrads and sexual harassment

— Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) January 7, 2018

A couple weeks ago, James offered me & a few other girls an overdue, annoyed, convenient phone “apology”. I don’t accept, but maybe some other people’s lives would be made easier if he donated all of his earnings from “The Disaster Artist” to @RAINN01.

— Violet Paley (@VioletPaley) January 9, 2018

Franco’s Golden Globe win for Best Actor In a Musical or Comedy had some predicting he could be a dark horse nominee at the Academy Awards. But the hype train for that campaign has been derailed by these new allegations. THR reports The New York Times has cancelled James Franco’s TimesTalk, a publicly moderated discussion of his latest film. Perhaps the Times or Franco’s team fears a re-enactment of the Dustin Hoffman/John Oliver Q&A? In a statement to THR, a Times representative said, “The event was intended to be a discussion of the making of the film, The Disaster Artist. Given the controversy surrounding recent allegations, we’re no longer comfortable proceeding in that vein.”

Franco responded to some of these allegations on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Colbert, to his credit, asked James Franco about accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse that were posted on Twitter during the Golden Globes on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/KDITwoJi4w

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 10, 2018

For completeness, here is Colbert’s follow-up question to Franco in that interview. Franco reiterates that “if there’s restitution to be made, I will make it.” pic.twitter.com/IB1gLXAo3P

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 10, 2018

Franco said in part:

The others, look, in my life I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I have done. I have to do that to maintain my well-being. I do it whenever I know that there’s something that’s wrong that needs to be changed. The things that I’ve heard that were on Twitter are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice, because they didn’t have a voice for so long. I don’t want to shut them down in any way. I think it’s a good thing and I support it.

We’ll keep you posted on this story as it develops.