Five women accuse James Franco of sexual misconduct

JAMES Franco is being told ‘Time’s Up’ by five women who have accused him of sexual misconduct in a bombshell report from the Los Angeles Times, four of whom were his students.

“I feel there was an abuse of power, and there was a culture of exploiting non-celebrity women, and a culture of women being replaceable,” said Sarah Tither-Kaplan, who also tweeted her allegations against Franco, 39, on Sunday during the Golden Globes.

The New York Post reports that Tither-Kaplan, 26, claimed that while filming an orgy scene for a project for Franco’s Studio 4 film school three years ago, Franco removed protective plastic guards covering the actresses’ vaginas.

In the scene, Franco simulated oral sex on the women. Another actress confirmed this account in the report.

The Times reported two other women on the shoot recalled negative experiences and that Franco allegedly got angry when actresses refused to go topless in scenes.

Tither-Kaplan alleged that Franco asked her to play a prostitute in the film The Long Home, which starred Courtney Love, Josh Hutcherson and Timothy Hutton.

The part required her to perform nude, and Tither-Kaplan signed nudity agreements for her scenes, but claimed that she became increasingly uncomfortable after the plastic guards were allegedly removed during the orgy scenes, leading her to regret performing in the film at all.

She also claimed that one actress who declined to appear topless in a scene was sent home, noting, “I got it in my head pretty quickly that, OK, you don’t say ‘no’ to this guy.”

Franco’s lawyers, Michael Plonsker, said, “The allegations about the protective guards are not accurate.”

Mr Plonsker also provided a statement from The Long Home casting director Cynthia Huffman, in which she claimed she did not receive any complaints during filming and that she “personally checked on all the actresses constantly to make sure they were OK and comfortable.”

“James is all about giving up-and-comers, actors and actresses and young filmmakers a break in this business,” Ms Huffman said in the statement. “I feel horrible that anyone was made to feel uncomfortable but we went to great lengths to make sure all the actresses in the nude scenes felt comfortable and safe.”

Studio 4 closed in fall 2014; a dozen former students told the Times they’d had positive experiences at the school.

Tither-Kaplan did note that Franco apologised to her in late 2017 following the avalanche of allegations of sexual misconduct that plagued Harvey Weinstein.

“I want to give him credit for at least being open to communicating with me,” she said. “I felt that he was still not really taking accountability for the environment on the sets.”

Hilary Dusome took one of Franco’s classes in 2012 at the Playhouse West in North Hollywood.

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