Actor and director James Franco has now been accused by five women of sexually inappropriate and exploitative behavior, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Franco won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy on Sunday night. During his acceptance speech, he sported a “Time’s Up” pin on his lapel to signify solidarity with women and men who have been sexually harassed in the workplace. But Franco was almost immediately called out for his own history of alleged abuse.
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“I was talking to him, all of a sudden his penis was out,” Violet Paley, 23, told the LA Times. “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.”
Paley said that, later, her sexual relationship with Franco continued. Franco’s attorney has denied her allegations.
Other women have accused Franco of using his celebrity as a means to exploit women on set. Sarah Tither-Kaplan, a former student of the acting school founded by Franco, said that she was pressured into appearing nude during a film scene depicting an orgy. While simulating oral sex, Franco removed plastic guards from actresses’ vaginas, Tither-Kaplan alleged. Two other student actresses told the LA Times that Franco became upset when women would not agree to appear nude on set.
In 2014, Franco also exchanged private messages on Instagram with a then 17-year-old girl in an attempt to arrange a hotel encounter.
After Franco won his Golden Globe, former actress Ally Sheedy also criticized the actor, although less explicitly, in a series of now-deleted tweets after the actor won his Golden Globe. It’s unclear if she’s made any specific allegations.
“James Franco just won,” Sheedy tweeted. “Please never ask me why I left the film/tv business.”
On Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” Tuesday night, Franco denied allegations against him and said he had “no idea” what he did to Ally Sheedy.