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Seth Rogen Doesn’t Plan On Working With James Franco Due to Sexual Misconduct Allegations

May 9, 2021 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Seth Rogen James Franco The Interview

Seth Rogen has addressed his professional relationship with James Franco, saying that he doesn’t plan to work with him over the allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Rogen spoke with the Sunday Times for a new interview and during the conversations, he addressed the allegations against Franco, who he worked with on a host of films including The Disaster Artist, Pineapple Express, This is the End, The Night Before, and The Interview.

Franco was accused in 2018 by several women of sexually inappropriate behavior. He also settled a 2019 lawsuit that accused him of intimidating students at his acting school into sexual situations. Franco has denied all the allegations and his lawyers called them “false and inflammatory.”

Discussing the allegations, Seth Rogen said, “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.” He also discussed his appearance on Saturday Night Live in 2014 when he made a joke about a 17 year-old’s allegation that Franco had direct messaged her on Instagram proposing to meet with her, saying, “However, I do look back at a joke I made on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 2014 and I very much regret making that joke. It was a terrible joke, honestly.”

Rogen switched gears on working with the actor from the 2018 interview in which he said that he would still work with Franco amid the allegations, noting, “I also look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to right now.”

He added that it’s “not a coincidence” that his work with Franco has ended, noting about their friendship, “I don’t know if I can define that right now during this interview. I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.”

When the interviewer said that the situation “must have been painful” for Rogen, he replied “Yeah. But not as painful and difficult as it is for a lot of other people involved. I have no pity for myself in this situation.”