Ladies, listen up. If you failed to tune into this year’s Golden Globes, you missed lots of girl power — and, unfortunately, yet another sexual assault allegation.
James Franco, who left the party with an award for Best Actor in a Comedy for The Disaster Artist in his pocket, was also left with his name thrown on the ever-increasing list of names of Hollywood’s sexual harassment perpetrators.
Actress and writer Violet Paley, known for her work on Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll and with Playboy, blasted Franco on Twitter, calling it “cute” that he was wearing a #TimesUp pin in support of the movement and going on to detail her experiences.
Cute #TIMESUP pin James Franco. Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17? After you had already been caught doing that to a different 17 year old?
— Violet Paley (@VioletPaley) January 8, 2018
After Paley’s Tweet, more women came forward with their own experiences, all naming Franco for various forms of misconduct.
Franco has since discussed the allegations on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, stating, “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 — I don’t want to, you know, shut them down in any way.”
This year’s awards ceremony was bursting with influential women doing influential things. We were formally introduced to the #TimesUp movement, a powerhouse made up of top names in Hollywood that have dedicated themselves to empowerment and equality for women and minority groups. Armed with a $14 million legal defense fund and pledges from top entertainment executives to shape up, #TimesUp took to the Golden Globes to throw some shade — quite literally.
Related: This is Why Everyone Wore Black to the Golden Globes
Draped in gorgeous black gowns and charcoal pantsuits, the women of Hollywood — please go watch Oprah’s speech — made many a statement about the necessity of sexual misconduct awareness and equality in the workplace, making these newest allegations that much more distressing.