Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday night, actor James Franco denied allegations of sexual misconduct put forward by actresses Ally Sheedy, Violet Paley, and Sarah Tither-Kaplan.
Following Franco’s Golden Globe win Sunday for his leading role in The Disaster Artist, Sheedy, who was directed by Franco in 2014 off-Broadway play The Long Shrift, wrote several cryptic tweets implying that an incident suffered at Franco’s hands had driven her from the entertainment industry. Paley, who had previously dated Franco, also took to Twitter to accuse him of forcibly “[pushing] my head down in a car towards your exposed penis” and of trying to sleep with her 17-year-old friend. She also accused him of hypocrisy for wearing a pin supporting Time’s Up, a new organization fighting against sexual abuse and sexism in Hollywood, and alluded to an incident in which Franco was allegedly busted for trying to pick up a 17-year-old girl through Instagram. Sarah Tither-Kaplan, a former student of Franco’s at his acting school, has also alleged exploitive behavior by her former mentor, revealing in a tweet that he had asked her to appear nude in two of his films for $100 a day.
Speaking with Colbert, Franco dismissed the claims as “not accurate,” but explained that he still “completely [supported] people coming out and being able to have a voice because they didn’t have a voice for so long.”
“I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy,” he said. “I directed her in a play off-Broadway. I had nothing but a great time with her and I have total respect for her. I have no idea why she was upset.”
He did not specifically address the other accusations against him, but added that he prides himself “on taking responsibility for things I’ve done.”
On Tuesday, Paley wrote a follow-up tweet noting that Franco had “offered me and a few other girls an overdue, annoyed, convenient phone ‘apology.’”
“I don’t accept,” Paley wrote, “but maybe some other people’s lives would be made easier if he donated all of his earnings from The Disaster Artist to RAINN,” she added, referring to the anti-sexual violence organization.
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