James Franco has denied recent allegations of sexual misconduct after being confronted by Stephen Colbert on The Late Show.
Earlier today it was reported that Franco had had a speaking engagement cancelled following the allegations, which suggested he had assaulted a woman and solicited sex from a 17-year-old.
Cute #TIMESUP pin James Franco. Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17? After you had already been caught doing that to a different 17 year old?
— violet (@VioletPaley) January 8, 2018
In a series of now-deleted tweets, actress Ally Sheedy heavily implied historical misconduct on Franco’s part:
Ally Sheedy needs to be asked about this! #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/q6pWkf8U5w
— 🟧🌻lisa liebman (@LisaLiebmanNYC) January 8, 2018
Prior to the interview with Colbert, Franco had yet to make public comment on the allegations against him. Having already scheduled an interview with him for tonight, Colbert decided to go ahead with the interview and ask him on air.
Colbert began by saying that there were people who were upset that he was wearing a Time’s Up badge and asking Franco if he understood why that was, to which Franco said that he was a huge supporter of the movement: “I do support it. I was so excited to win, but being in the room that night was powerful. I support change.”
He went on to say that he was aware of the allegations made against him but that they were completely false:
I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy. I had nothing but a great time with her. I have total respect for her. I have no why she was upset, she took the tweets down. The others, look, in my life I pride myself for taking responsibility for what I’ve done. I have to do that to that to maintain my wellbeing, I do it whenever I know that there’s something wrong that needs to be changed. I make a point to do it. The things that I heard that were on Twitter were not accurate.
I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice because they haven’t had a voice for so long. I don’t want to shut them down in any way. It’s a good thing I support.
Colbert then went on to point out that, historically, a large part of the problem is that women haven’t been believed when they’ve gone public with the things that have happened to them, and that dismissing their allegations out of hand feeds into that same culture. Asked if there was any other way this discussion could continue so that it could be settled satisfactorily for all parties, Franco said that he doesn’t have any answers:
If I have done something wrong, I will fix it — I have to. That’s how that works. I don’t know what else to do.The point is to listen. I am here to listen and learn and change perspective where it’s off. I’m completely willing and want to.
You can watch the clip below:
