©Queen of the Desert
The longtime collaborative friendship between James Franco and Seth Rogen has come to an end in the wake of sexual allegations made against the former. The two actors had both appeared in such productions as Freaks and Geeks, This is the End, The Interview, and Pineapple Express.
Several years ago, two of Franco’s former acting students filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that Franco and others “engaged in widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behavior towards female students by sexualizing their power as a teacher and an employer by dangling the opportunity for roles in their projects.” Franco settled the claim in June of 2021 for $2,235,000.
In an interview just published in Variety, Franco was quoted as saying “I haven’t talked to Seth. I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it’s over. And not for lack of trying. I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me.”
For his part, Rogen told a London Times interviewer in 2021 that he had no plans to work with Franco in the future because of the sexual misconduct issue, declaring that “it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.”
“I despise abuse and harassment,” Rogen added, “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.”
Franco reluctantly accepted Rogen’s decision. He told The Jess Cragle Podcast in December of 2021: “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. And so that’s why it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you today. I don’t want Seth or my brother (actor Dave Franco) or anyone to have to answer for me.”
“We didn’t have one fight for 20 years. Not one fight,” added Franco. “[Rogen] was my absolute closest work friend, collaborator. And we just gelled and what he said is true: We aren’t working together right now, and we don’t have any plans to work together.”
Franco also reflected on his personality flaws that led to the breakup: “I was a workaholic; I was going all the time,” he said. “And even when there were good moments — like a movie that people liked or, I don’t know, [being] nominated for an award or whatever it might be, whatever good moments along the way that I wish I could have appreciated — I just didn’t because I had this weird thing where it was just like, I always need more.”
Franco is now claiming that he’s “made it a huge priority in [his] life to just stay engaged, give back. “It’s a large part of what I’ve been doing, frankly, and it’s given me a lot of relief.”
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