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Seth Rogen Reveals Where His Friendship With James Franco Stands Amid Sexual Abuse Allegations
Seth Rogen revealed the current status of his relationship with his longtime friend and frequent collaborator James Franco amid his sexual abuse allegations.
During an interview with U.K.’s Sunday Times, released on Sunday, May 9, the Neighbors star, 39, said it’s “not a coincidence” that he hasn’t worked with Franco, 43, on any projects recently. When asked whether or not he’s still friends with the Spider-Man alum, Rogen responded, “I don’t know if I can define that right now during this interview,” noting that the allegations have “changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.”
When the sexual misconduct allegations against Franco came to light in 2018, Rogen said he planned to continue his professional relationship with his fellow Pineapple Express actor. During the Sunday Times interview, Rogen said that is no longer the case. “The truth is that I have not [worked with Franco] and I do not plan to right now,” he explained.
In January 2018, several students from Franco’s former acting school came forward and accused him of sexual misconduct. The following year, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Franco by two former students. Franco reached a settlement in the lawsuit in February, Us Weekly reported at the time, and both women agreed to drop their claims.
Franco addressed the allegations during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in January 2018 and said, “I haven’t read them. I’ve heard about them.”
“In my life, I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I’ve done. I have to do that to maintain my well-being. I do it whenever I know that there is something wrong or needs to be changed, I make it a point to do it,” Franco added. “The things that I 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. So I don’t want to, you know, shut them down in any way. It’s, I think, a good thing and I support it.”
Franco was also accused of messaging a 17-year-old girl via Instagram direct message in 2014 and asking her to meet up. At the time, the Milk star addressed the situation and claimed that he “used bad judgment and I learned my lesson.”
Following the incident, Rogen made a joke about it while hosting Saturday Night Live at the time. “However, I do look back at a joke I made on Saturday Night Live in 2014 and I very much regret making that joke. It was a terrible joke, honestly,” the Knocked Up actor told the British newspaper.
Rogen’s Sunday Times interview comes after actress Charlyne Yi accused him of “enabling” Franco in a social media post last month. “Enablers are just as toxic and are abusers too,” she wrote, calling Franco a “sexual predator” when explaining why she attempted to quit the duo’s 2017 film The Disaster Artist.
Rogen addressed her comments during the interview, saying, “What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that.”
In Touch has reached out to Franco for comment.
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