Seth Rogen says he has no plans to work with his longtime collaborator and friend James Franco again. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Rogen revealed that both his professional and personal relationship with Franco have suffered after multiple women lodged complaints of sexual misconduct against the actor.
When asked whether he intended to work with Franco once more, Rogen replied, “The truth is that I have not, and I do not plan to right now.” In 2018, five women publicly accused Franco of sexual misconduct, including sexual coercion and exploitation. A year later two women, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, filed a lawsuit against Franco, alleging that he attempted to use his now defunct acting school to establish “a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education.” Franco has denied the allegations via his lawyers, reaching a settlement with Tither-Kaplan and Gaal in February of this year.
Rogen has previously stood by his Pineapple Express costar, even in the wake of scandals involving Franco. While hosting Saturday Night Live in 2014, Rogen made light of Franco allegedly propositioning a minor. During his opening monologue, Rogen pretended to read a page from his journal: “To make myself feel better, I decided to prank James Franco. I posed as a girl on Instagram, told him I was way young. He seemed unfazed. I have a date to meet him at the Ace Hotel.” In his interview over the weekend, Rogen apologized for his “terrible joke,” telling the Times, “I very much regret making that joke.”
Rogen’s comments come one month after actor Charlyne Yi took him to task on social media for “enabling” Franco. In a lengthy Instagram post, Yi said that she tried to quit the 2017 film The Disaster Artist, alleging that the production responded by “[trying] to bribe me with a bigger acting role.”
“Seth Rogen was one of the producers on this film so he definitely knows about the bribe and why I quit,” Yi wrote. “Seth also did a sketch on SNL with Franco enabling Franco preying on children. Right after Franco was caught.”
In response to Yi’s Instagram post, Rogen said the following: “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.”
As for the state of his friendship with Franco, Rogen said that has also waned since the allegations broke in 2018. “I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic,” Rogen said. When asked whether the end of their professional relationship was a coincidence, Rogen answered that it was not—but maintained that any pain he feels pales in comparison to that of the people Franco allegedly took advantage of. “I have no pity for myself in this situation,” he said.
Franco has not yet responded to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.
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