And it’s no secret that this actor (who’s got an MFA from Columbia and is working on his PhD from Yale) has smarts, but is there a secret he’s hiding?
Judging from the number of Tweets he received as he received the award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, there just might be. Not only was he criticized for wearing a “Time’s Up” pin supporting the initiative against discrimination and assault, accusations of assault have emerged.
Ally Sheedy, the equally quirky actress and “Brat Pack” member that starred in cult teenage angst films including The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire, launched a Twitter onslaught of veiled messages that “blamed” the actor for her leaving Hollywood.
One of the tweets read: “Why is James Franco allowed in? Said too much” then added, “Ok wait. Bye. Christian Slater and James Franco at a table on @goldenglobes,” before hashtagging “#MeToo.”
But as quickly as the tweets were released, they were deleted. Sheedy has been quiet ever since.
Sheedy wasn’t the only one leveling accusations at the actor. Actress Violet Paley tweeted that she engaged in an incident with Franco, first saying that she was 17 at the time then recanting the account, saying she was an adult involved in a consensual relationship with him.
The actor appeared on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where he addressed the scandal, saying “I haven’t read [the accusations.] I’ve heard about them. 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 … shut them down in any way.”
He further explained that he had no idea what he did to Ally Sheedy, continuing “I directed her in a play … I had nothing but a great time with her, total respect for her. I have no idea why she was upset.”
Another fallout from the Twitter storm came from the New York Times, which had planned a panel discussion to include Franco and his brother Dave at a “TimesTalk” event. A spokesman for the paper explained, “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.”
Sopan Deb, the Times reporter who was scheduled to interview the actors approached Franco and asked if he wanted to respond to the allegations. The actor declined comment.
So is Franco guilty or isn’t he? Are the actresses coming forward with accusations merely trying to get their names back in the press to boost their careers or not? Right now, the verdict is still out, and only time will reveal the truth. In any case, the tower continues to crumble and fall.