New York Times Cancels 'TimesTalk' With James Franco After Sexual Misconduct Allegations Surface
The sexual misconduct scandal has hit actor James Franco. The actor-director has now received the first consequence of being accused of sexual misconduct allegations.
No 'TimesTalk' For James Franco
The New York Times has canceled its "TimesTalk" event with the Golden Globe-winning actor. The event, which was supposed to be scheduled on Wednesday, Jan. 10, was supposed to be a talkback session. Franco, along with his brother Dave, was supposed to answer questions regarding the filmmaking process on The Disaster Artist.
The Disaster Artist, which was the basis on the behind-the-scenes production of Tommy Wiseau's cult classic The Room, has been championed at the box office. The film also helped Franco win acting awards such as The Gotham Awards' Best Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical for his portrayal of Wiseau.
Sexual Harassment Allegations Come To Light
Upon winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical, several Twitter users began to lash out against the actor-director. They criticized Franco for also wearing the Times' Up pin that a bulk of the male attendees wore to support the super-powered Times' Up movement.
One tweet that caught the attention of the internet belonged to actress-director Violet Paley. Paley tweeted that she was involved in a sexual misconduct situation with the Spider-Man actor.
"Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis and that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel room when she was 17-years-old? After you had already been caught doing that to another 17-years-old?" Paley tweeted.
Her tweet was liked nearly 27,000 times and retweeted almost 11,000 times. Due to the allegations, the newspaper company canceled the event.
"The event was intended to be a discussion of the making of the film, The Disaster Artist. Given the controversy surrounding recent allegation, we're no longer comfortable proceeding in that vein," The New York Times representative said.
A Career In Jeopardy?
With these allegations, Franco might be joining the list of performers whose careers were damaged by sexual misconduct.
Actor Kevin Spacey was digitally removed from All the Money in the World and was forced out of House of Cards after numerous men came forward to reveal that the actor harassed them when they worked with him.
Actor Albert Schultz was forced to step down from the theatre company he co-founded, the Soulpepper Theatre Company after four women came forward to accuse Schultz of over 20 years worth of sexual misconduct.
Franco went to Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Jan. 9 to diffuse the allegations and defend his reputation.
