James Franco recently joined a growing list of Hollywood actors accused of sexual abuse. Five women, four were former students at Studio 4 and one was a mentee, accused Franco of abusing his power in the workplace. Ironically, he garnered attention at the Golden Globes Awards for wearing a pin with “TIME’S UP” written across it to support the movement founded to provide subsidized legal support for sexual assault victims. One of his accusers, Sarah Tither-Kaplan, told the Los Angeles Times that it “was like a slap in my face” to see Franco wearing the pin. She even took to Twitter to call James Franco out.
Accusations against the actor include sexually exploiting women attempting to advance their careers, removing plastic guards covering their skin for a nude orgy film for a movie scene, and becoming upset when actresses refused to remove their shirts during a shoot at a strip club.
Franco and his attorney, Michael Plonsker, have denied these accusations. However, Franco has allegedly been contacting his exes and former students regarding his treatment of them. According to a source, he is “genuinely remorseful” for his actions.
The actor reportedly is reportedly not doing well since accusations against him began to accumulate. According to a source, he is “genuinely remorseful” for his wrongdoings. During Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk show, he stated that “In my life, I pride myself on taking responsibility for what I’ve done. The things I heard are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out because they didn’t have a voice for so long. I don’t want to shut them down in any way. I think it’s a good thing and I support it.”
But, are these apologies too little, too late? And even if it wasn’t rape, which some people think is appropriate to point out, that doesn’t take away the fact that these women were violated and used.
While I agree with Franco that people should take responsibility for their actions and not attempt to silence those they hurt, I wonder how genuine his apology is. He didn’t start calling his exes until the Time’s Up movement gained momentum and perhaps realized his past actions may implicate him. I also find it hard to believe that he didn’t think he was putting women in uncomfortable situations. Even if he was obsessed and overly engaged in his work like he claims he was at the time, that doesn’t excuse his actions.
If there’s anything that we can learn from the controversy surrounding James Franco, it’s that no matter how remorseful you are for something you did, you still did it. You can’t take it back. Hence, the importance of bringing awareness to sexual abuse issues in Hollywood. It’s a lot easier to prevent something than to attempt to apologize for one’s wrongdoing later. One’s position or state of power does not entitle him to use it to sexually exploit others –a lesson that many people in Hollywood have yet to learn. Maybe Franco should take Violet Paley’s tip and donate his earnings from “The Disaster Artist” to the National Sexual Assault Hotline.
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