Actor James Franco on Tuesday denied allegations of sexual misconduct levied against him on social media in recent days, telling Stephen Colbert on CBS’ “The Late Show” that “the things I heard on Twitter are not accurate.”
Actress Ally Sheedy, who Franco directed in an off-Broadway production in 2014, hinted Sunday at inappropriate behavior from the actor in a series of since-deleted tweets during the Golden Globe Awards show. Franco, who won a Golden Globe for his performance in “The Disaster Artist,” appeared at the show wearing a “Times Up” pin in support of the movement that has encouraged women to speak up against sexual abuse in Hollywood.
"James Franco just won. Please never ever ask me why I left the film/tv business," Sheedy, who was a member of the so-called "Brat Pack" in the 1980s, wrote on Twitter, according to Vanity Fair.
In an earlier tweet, she wrote, "Why is James Franco allowed in? Said too much."
She did not elaborate.
Franco told Colbert on Tuesday that he “had no idea what (he) did to Ally Sheedy.”
“I directed her in a play off-Broadway. I had nothing but a great time with her (and I have) total respect for her,” Franco said. “I have no idea why she's upset. She took the tweet down. I don’t know; I can’t speak for her.”
Sheedy was one of at least three women to take to Twitter with allegations that Franco had engaged in inappropriate behavior.
Filmmaker and actress Sarah Tither-Kaplan claimed that a contract she signed with Franco was exploitative after she said he directed her to be fully nude.
In a separate tweet to Franco, actress Violet Paley wrote, “Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car toward your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17?”
Franco denied the accuracy of the allegations.
“Look, in my life I pride myself on taking responsibility for the things I’ve done,” he said Tuesday. “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.”
It’s not the first time Franco has been accused of questionable behavior.
Lucy Clode was 17 years old in 2014 when she said she met Franco after a Broadway show, according to New York magazine's The Cut blog. The two exchanged messages on Instagram and Franco, who was 35 at the time, tried to get her to meet him in a hotel room, the magazine reported.
He later apologized for the incident, which he attributed to “bad judgment.”
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