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Published January 23, 2018
On the same day that actor James Franco was snubbed by the 2018 Academy Awards for his role in the film “The Disaster Artist,” two of the women accusing him of sexual misconduct are sharing more details about their experience and how they view the star in the wake of everything.
Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Violet Paley were among the five women that came forward following the star’s Golden Globes win to reveal past experiences of alleged sexual misconduct with Franco. He has since denied those claims in an interview with Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show.”
Speaking on “Good Morning America,” they detailed their experiences with the 39-year-old star, which they previously spoke about on Twitter.
Tither-Kaplan explained that she was a student in Franco’s Los Angeles master class on sex scenes where she says he created an “exploitative environment” for non-celebrities by favoring those who were more open to nudity and sex scenes and limiting opportunities for those that weren’t.
“There were a lot of scenes that were added after we were given the original scripts that I felt I wished I had more time to consider them, or understand the artistic value of them,” she says in the interview below, noticeably shaking. “A lot of the time they seemed gratuitous and exploitative.”
Paley, on the other hand, described an occasion in which Franco allegedly pushed her head into his lap. When asked if the consensual sexual relationship that she then engaged in with the star complicated her claims, she quickly agreed.
“Yes, of course. I mean, I… I’m regretful,” she said. “I was young, he was a celebrity that I looked up to.”
While the women feel that it was important to speak out, they were sure to note that even they don’t think the star is beyond forgiveness. However, they feel it’s important that he attones for his actions nonetheless.
“James is absolutely not a Harvey Weinstein, he is not an unfeeling monster who has no sense of reality, he created exploitative environments for non-celebrity women on his sets. I also think James is a very talented and valuable person,” Tither-Kaplan explained. “It’s a pyramid and at the top is rape and sexual violence and at the bottom are the other abuses of power that, when they continue to happen over and over, build and build and build, create a culture that allows the most heinous examples of sexual violence and misogyny and discrimination to happen. So, if we allow any of them, we’re allowing all of them.”
Franco’s reps had no further response outside of his comments on “The Late Show,” where he offered to attone in any way the women saw fit while denying their allegations.
“Please just apologize,” Paley said.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/james-franco-accusers-give-more-details-describe-a-path-to-redemption