- Culture
- 22 Jan 18
Scarlett Johansson has sensationally accused her Hollywood acting colleague of being a hypocrite for "privately preying on people who have no power".
Speaking during the weekend at Los Angeles leg of the inaugural Women’s March 2018, she said: “How could a person publicly stand by an organisation that helps to provide support for victims of sexual assault while privately preying on people who have no power?” Johansson.
A spokesperson for the actress later confirmed to US media outlets that she was indeed referring to James Franco,
Hot on the heels of winning his Golden Globe award for best actor in 'The Disaster Artist', there was a flurry of graphic sexual misconduct allegations made on social media against the Hollywood star.
“I want my pin back, by the way," Johansson also said during the rally, which was a clear reference to the fact that Franco was accused of being a hypocrite for wearing a 'Time's Up' pin to highlight the wave of sex scandals that have hit Hollywood.
You can watch Johansson's passionate speech at the rally here:
The wave of allegations against the Hollywood star prompted The New York Times to cancel a James Franco Q&A event at the last minute to promote his new movie earlier this month.
The paper of record said in a statement: “Given the controversy surrounding recent allegations, we’re no longer comfortable proceeding in that vein.”
One young woman, Violet Paley claims that Franco forced her to perform fellatio on him in a parked car.
She wrote: "Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17? After you had already been caught doing that to a different 17 year old?"
Cute #TIMESUP pin James Franco. Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17? After you had already been caught doing that to a different 17 year old?
— Violet Paley (@VioletPaley) January 8, 2018
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Violet Paley also claimed that James Franco reached out to her and a “few other girls” recently to offer “an overdue, annoyed, convenient phone ‘apology'”.
An uncomfortable looking Franco spoke about the allegations during an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
He said:“The things that I heard that went 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
“I don’t want to shut them down in any way. I don’t want to shut them down in any way. I think it’s a good thing and I support it.”
You can watch James Franco's full answer to the allegations here: