Seth Rogen is no longer standing by James Franco following numerous allegations against Franco of sexual misconduct.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Rogen revealed that he will no longer be working with Franco. Rogen also discussed accusations made by Charlyne Yi about Rogen enabling Franco’s wrongdoings while on the set of The Disaster Artist, the last project Rogen and Franco worked on together.
“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,” Rogen said.
He added, “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. And 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.” In this particular SNL episode, Franco DMs a 17-year-old British schoolgirl and asks for her number.
Yi made her claims public in early April, revealing that they wanted to quit The Disaster Artist because Franco is a “sexual predator.” However, they were blocked from doing so, with the producers attempting to bribe them with a larger part in the film. They said that Rogen “definitely [knew] about the bribe and why I quit.”
When asked if the demise of their working relationship was unintentional, Rogen told the Times, “No. It is not a coincidence.” He also said that the allegations wrecked their friendship. “I don’t know if I can define [our personal relationship] right now during this interview. I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.”
Franco was hit with five accusations of sexual misconduct in 2018, which he has continuously refuted. In February, he reached a settlement with two women who were once students at his shuttered acting school Studio 4.
Rogen and Franco previously worked on movies like The Interview, Pineapple Express, and The Disaster Artist, and co-starred in the cult series Freaks and Geeks. Since the allegations, Franco has made fewer TV and film appearances, only surfacing in HBO’s The Deuce and films Polar Squad and Kill the Czar.
