Exploring the James Franco Controversy and the End of His 20-Year Friendship with Seth Rogen

James Franco has recently shed light on the deterioration of his friendship with Seth Rogen, a bond that has faced turbulence over the years. In an interview with Variety on October 25, 2024, Franco shared insights about their relationship, indicating that he has not been in contact with Rogen.

“No. I haven’t talked to Seth. I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it’s over.”

It appears that the decision to part ways was not Franco’s alone. He expressed to Variety that he made attempts to reconnect with Rogen, but they have been unsuccessful. He stated:

“And not for the lack of trying. I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me.”

This revelation follows Rogen’s earlier comments about their collaboration coming to an end, after Franco faced numerous controversies. The pair first teamed up on the beloved series Freaks and Geeks in the 1990s, later appearing together in films such as Pineapple Express, The Interview, The Disaster Artist, and This Is the End.

Initially, even amid the controversies surrounding Franco, Rogen stood by him, publicly expressing his intention to continue working together. In 2018, Rogen mentioned to Vulture that he would not sever ties despite the allegations.

However, this stance changed by 2021 when Rogen declared in The Sunday Times that their professional relationship had concluded, indicating that the controversies had significantly altered their personal dynamics.

“I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.”

Despite this admission, Rogen did not clarify if their friendship had fully ended at that time.

James Franco’s Controversy Amidst His Movie Comeback

Currently, James Franco is in Rome promoting his latest film, Hey Joe. This Italian drama, directed by Claudio Giovannesi, is set to premiere on October 25 at the Rome Film Festival and will hit theaters on November 28. This marks only Franco’s second film release since he faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct in 2018.

At the 2018 Golden Globe Awards, Franco donned a Time’s Up pin to show solidarity with survivors of sexual harassment. However, shortly thereafter, multiple allegations surfaced, with five women accusing him of engaging in “inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior,” as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Initially, Franco refuted these claims, but in 2019, he was hit with a lawsuit that reiterated the allegations of inappropriate conduct. Actresses Toni Gaal and Sarah Tither-Kaplan filed suit against Franco’s production company, claiming he and his associates sexually exploited female students at his acting school, Studio 4.

The lawsuit alleged that Franco and his colleagues “misused”their positions to manipulate students with promises of roles in his projects and engaged in widespread inappropriate behavior. While James Franco denied having intimate relationships with students from the controversial class called “Sex Scenes,”he conceded to having been involved with some students during his teaching stint.

During a December 2021 interview on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle podcast, he remarked:

“I didn’t sleep with anybody in that particular class, but over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students, and that was wrong.”

Franco attributed some of his actions to past struggles with addiction but dismissed claims that he established a “pipeline”for sexual exploitation. Ultimately, in 2021, the actresses withdrew their lawsuit after reaching a settlement of $2.2 million with Franco and his co-defendants.

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