James Franco Snubbed by Oscars Following Reports of Sexual Misconduct
Just four days after James Franco won the Golden Globe for his role in The Disaster Artist, the Los Angeles Times published a report in which five women accused the actor and director "of behavior they found to be inappropriate or sexually exploitative," according to the Times. Now, less than two weeks after that bombshell report, Franco has been completely shut out of the Oscar nominations.
Not only did Franco not receive a Best Actor nod for his turn as wacky filmmaker Tommy Wiseau — despite the fact that the Oscar noms typically mirror those of the Golden Globes — but The Disaster Artist was also left out of the Best Picture race, receiving just one nomination, for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Franco, who hosted the Oscars in 2011, has received acting nominations at each of the other major awards shows that have already happened in 2018. Although he skipped the Critics Choice Awards, which were held in Santa Monica on the same day the Times report broke, he won the award for Best Actor in a Comedy at the ceremony. And last weekend, Franco did attend the SAG Awards, where he was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, but lost to Gary Oldman.
Franco has yet to address the Times's exposé, in which the five women described Franco's forcing them to perform sexual acts and appear nude both on- and offscreen. However, before the report broke, accusations of inappropriate behavior surfaced on Twitter, spurred by Franco's wearing a "Time's Up" pin on the Golden Globes red carpet. During an appearance on The Late Show later that week, Franco denied the tweeted accusations. "Look, in my life, I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I've done. I have to do that to maintain my well-being," he said. "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 want to, you know, shut them down in any way. It's, I think, a good thing and I support it."
The next night, just hours before the Times report was published, Franco addressed the accusations once again, during an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers. "I haven't responded [to the tweets]. The ones I read were not accurate, but one of the things I've learned is that this is a conversation that obviously needs to be had. There are people, women, and others who have not been a part of this conversation," he said. "Like I said, there are stories that need to get out, people that need to be heard. I have my own side of this story, but I believe that these people have been underrepresented getting their stories out enough that I will hold back things that I could say just because I believe in that so much."
At the SAG Awards last weekend, Alison Brie, who is married to Franco's brother, Dave Franco, defended her brother-in-law in similar terms. "What we've always said is that it remains vital that anyone who feels victimized should and does have the right to speak out and come forward," she told E!'s Giuliana Rancic on the red carpet. "I obviously support my family and not everything that's been reported is fully accurate, so I think we're waiting to get all the information. But, of course, now is a time for listening, and that's what we're all trying to do."
