James Franco Speaks Out About Sexual Harassment Allegations As New York Times Cancels Event
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The New York Times has canceled a public event with James Franco days after the Golden Globe winner was accused of sexual misconduct.
The TimesTalk event scheduled for Wednesday was intended to feature "The Disaster Artist'' director and star and his brother and co-star, Dave Franco, discussing the film with a Times reporter.
The Times said in a statement that "given the controversy surrounding recent allegations'' it was canceling the event.
Actress Violet Paley and filmmaker Sarah Tither-Kaplan have recently accused the 39-year-old Franco on Twitter of earlier instances of sexual misconduct.
"The Breakfast Club" actress Ally Sheedy, who worked with Franco on a 2014 off-Broadway production, also took to Twitter, calling him out with the #MeToo hashtag.
One of her tweets read "James Franco just won. Please never ask me why I left the film/tv business." Another read, "Why is a man hosting? Why is James Franco Allowed in? Said too much." Those in addition to a third tweet also calling out actor Christian Slater with the hashtag were deleted.
On Tuesday night, Franco told "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert that he has no idea what he ever did to Sheedy.
"The things that I heard 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 shut them down in any way, I think it's a good thing and I support it," Franco said.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)