James Franco won Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes on Sunday, but it was hardly a night for celebrating. As he accepted his award, Twitter lit up with allegations of sexual misconduct against the actor and filmmaker, with Ally Sheedy, Violet Paley and Sarah Tither-Kaplan calling out Franco’s behavior. Reaction has been swift, with the New York Times canceling a planned TimesTalk event with Franco. However, the actor kept his appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on the schedule, and he was placed on the hot seat.
Colbert asked Franco directly about the allegations, and he said the news that has been circulating about him is “not accurate,” adding that he fully supports women speaking out.
“I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy. I directed her in a play Off Broadway. I had nothing but a great time with her, a total respect for her. I have no idea why she was upset,” he said.
“The others, look, in my life I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I have done. I have to do that to maintain my well-being. I do it whenever I know that there’s something that’s wrong that needs to be changed,” Franco continued. “The things that I’ve 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. I don’t want to shut them down in any way. I think it’s a good thing and I support it.”
When Colbert pressed that perhaps Franco and his accusers had two different versions of what may or may not have transpired between them, the actor said, “If there’s restitution to be made, I will make it. If I’ve done something wrong, I will fix it.”
Indeed, Paley revealed on Twitter yesterday that Franco recently attempted an apology to her and other accusers, but it appears it was half-hearted:
A couple weeks ago, James offered me & a few other girls an overdue, annoyed, convenient phone “apology”. I don’t accept, but maybe some other people’s lives would be made easier if he donated all of his earnings from “The Disaster Artist” to @RAINN01.
— Violet Paley (@VioletPaley) January 9, 2018
You can watch the full conversation with Franco and Colbert below.