James Francois addressing his current working relationship status with longtime collaboratorSeth Rogen.
In an in-depth interview on SiriusXM’sThe Jess Cagle Podcastthat debuts in full on Thursday, Franco, 43,addressed the sexual misconduct allegations made against himin 2018, while also revealing his struggles with sex addiction and how he has worked to improve himself in the past four years.
Franco spoke aboutRogen, 39, distancing himself professionallyfrom Franco because of allegations that Franco was sexually inappropriate with multiple women, including students at his former acting school.
“He was asked about me, and I just wanna say I absolutely love Seth Rogen. … I love Seth Rogen,” Franco told Cagle. “I worked with him for 20 years. We didn’t have one fight for 20 years. Not one fight. He was my absolute closest work friend, collaborator. We just gelled.”
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“What he said is true, you know, we aren’t working together right now and we don’t have any plans to work together,” he continued. “Of course, it was hurtful, in context, but I get it. He had to answer for me ‘cause I was silent. He had to answer for me, and I don’t want that. So that’s why, that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you today: I don’t want Seth or my brother or anyone to have to answer for me anymore.”
In May, RogentoldThe Sunday Timeshe has no future plans to work with Franco: “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. … The truth is that I have not and I do not plan to [work with Franco] right now.”
Rogen added that the controversy “changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.”
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Rogen and Franco have known each other since they were teenagers and collaborated together on movies likePineapple Express(2008),This Is The End(2013),The Interview(2014), andThe Disaster Artist(2017).
James Franco.Kevin Winter/Getty
Tither-Kaplan and Gaal also alleged that the circumstances “led to an environment of harassment and sexual exploitation both in and out of the class.” As part of the deal reached this year, Tither-Kaplan and Gaal agreed to drop their individual claims.
Jess Cagle’s full interview with James Franco, as part of the latest episode of SiriusXM’sThe Jess Cagle Podcast, will be available on Thursday, Dec. 23. The interview will also air on SiriusXM’sThe Jess Cagle Showon SiriusXM Stars (ch. 109) on Thursday, Dec. 23 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
source: people.com
