Seth Rogen is evolving. While promoting his memoir, Yearbook (one of our most anticipated Jewish reads of the month), the Jewish actor spoke of his relationship with fellow Jewish actor James Franco.
In 2018, five women accused Franco of sexual misconduct. “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,” Sarah Tither-Kaplan, a student of Franco’s, told the LA Times.
Franco and Rogen have co-starred in many projects together — from “Freaks and Geeks” to “The Disaster Artist.”
Recently, actress Charlyne Yi posted to their Instagram about trying to quit “The Disaster Artist,” calling out Seth Rogen by name.
After the accusations surfaced in 2018, Rogen said he would keep working with Franco. Yet, three years later, he explains he regrets that.
“I … look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to right now,” he told the Sunday Times Magazine.
He also regrets the “Saturday Night Live” monologue he did in 2014 — in which he joked about being an underage girl to “prank” Franco. He had quipped, “I decided to prank James Franco. I posed as a girl on Instagram, told him I was way young; he seemed unfazed. I have a date to meet him at the Ace Hotel.” This was in reference to the news that a then-35-year-old Franco was knowingly private messaging a 17-year-old girl to meet up.
Responding to Li in the interview, Rogen said, “What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that. However, I do look back at a joke I made on Saturday Night Live in 2014 and I very much regret making that joke. It was a terrible joke, honestly.”
Asked if figuring out his relationship to Franco is painful, Rogen said, “Yeah. But not as painful and difficult as it is for a lot of other people involved. I have no pity for myself in this situation.”
