James Franco told Seth Meyers he’s “letting it be” when the talk show host questioned why he hadn’t reached out to former co-star Ally Sheedy about her cryptic tweets.
After James won a Golden Globe for his role in The Disaster Artist at the ceremony on Sunday night (07Jan18), Ally, who James directed in a play off Broadway, tweeted: “James Franco just won. Please never ask me why I left the film/tv business.”
She then added: “Why is a man hosting? Why is James Franco allowed in? Said too much. Nite love ya # goldenglobes”, before deleting the tweets.
Following her tweets, two other women – actress Violet Paley and former acting student Sarah Tither Kaplan – came forward to accuse the actor of sexual misconduct.
While doing the rounds for The Disaster Artist, James has been questioned about the allegations, and stated in an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night that the claims made about him were “not accurate”.
However, during an interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers on Wednesday night, the host was unwilling to let the subject go, and asked why James hadn’t reached out to Ally to ask what she meant with her tweets.
“You’re not curious enough to reach out to her, as someone that you’ve had a good relationship with before to try to understand why she would have done that?” he asked, to which James replied: “I don’t know, it was just so shocking, I don’t know. I guess I’m just letting it be.”
James also said that he didn’t want to respond to the claims because he wants the conversation about sexual harassment in Hollywood to continue.
“I did read (the tweets), I haven’t responded. I think, well, the ones I read were not accurate, but one of the things that I’ve learned is that this is a conversation that obviously needs to be had,” he said. “There are people, women and others, who have not been a part of this conversation. And I truly believe – and why I was wearing the pin, is that they need to be a part of this conversation, and so I support that.”
When Seth asked James whether the accusations had made him question his past behavior, the 39-year-old replied: “I have my own side of this story but I believe in these people that have been underrepresented getting their stories out enough that I will hold back things that I could say just because I believe in it that much.
“If I have to take a knock because I am not going to try and actively refute things then I will, because I believe in it that much.”
