James Franco, who just won a Golden Globe for his performance as Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist, joined Stephen Colbert on the Late Show Tuesday night to discuss the film. Colbert also asked Franco about the criticism he received for wearing a Time's Up pin during the Globes broadcast and the sexual misconduct allegations that have since resurfaced against him on Twitter. (His live event with the New York Times was also canceled earlier Tuesday.)
"Well, first I want to say I do support it," Franco said of the Time's Up initiative. "Look, I was so excited to win, but being in that room that night was incredible. I mean, it was powerful. There were incredible voices and I support it. I support change. I support 50/50 and 20/20, which just means people that are underrepresented—women and people of color, people in the LGBT community—get leadership positions, that they fill all positions that they’ve been deprived of. I completely believe in that. That's why I wore it."
As for the accusations, Franco said Tuesday that they aren't accurate. "There were some things on Twitter," he said. "I haven't read them. I've heard about them. Okay, first of all, I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy. I directed her in a play Off-Broadway. I had nothing but a great time with her. Total respect for her. I have no idea why she was upset. She took the tweet down. I don't know. I can't speak for her. I don't know. The others, look, in my life I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I've done. I have to do that to maintain my wellbeing. I do it whenever I know that there is something wrong or needs to be changed. I make it a point to do it. The things that I heard that were on Twitter are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice, because they didn't have a voice for so long. So I don't wanna shut them down in any way. It's, I think, a good thing and I support it."
Colbert then asked Franco if there was some way to "have this discussion" off social media and "come to some sense of what the truth is" in the process. "I mean, like I said, the way I live my life I can’t live if there's restitution to be made," Franco said. "I will make it. So if I've done something wrong, I will fix it. I have to. I mean I think that's how that works. I don't know what else to do. As far as the bigger issues, you know, how we do it, look, I really don't have the answers and I think the point of this whole thing is that we listen. There were incredible people talking that night. They had a lot to say and I’m here to listen and learn and change my perspective where it's off. I'm completely willing and I want to."
In a series of tweets that have since been deleted, Sheedy took aim at both Franco and Mr. Robot star Christian Slater. "James Franco just won," she wrote. "Please never ever ask me why I left the film/tv business." Following Sheedy's since-deleted tweets, two other women—Violet Paley and Sarah Tither-Kaplan—tweeted accusations of sexual misconduct against Franco.
