Daniel Franzese Accuses Bijou Phillips Of Bullying Him On The Set Of “Bully”
Who’s ready for a piping hot cup of Scientology schadenfreude? Actor Daniel Franzese has added one time co-star Bijou Phillips to Hollywood’s ever growing No-No Naughty list. Daniel, best known as Damian in Mean Girls, claims in a Facebook post that Bijou tormented him on the 2001 set of Bully with a barrage of insults and taunts about his sexuality and his body and physically assaulted him.
Daniel writes:
On my first film BULLY I was harassed by Bijou Phillips the entire shoot. She body shamed me and ridiculed me about my sexuality and physically assaulted me. I was scared and closeted and feared for my job. It started with a lot of eye rolling whenever we spoke but escalated when we did a cast shoot for the poster. As we were shooting she kept loudly saying “Are you gay?!” and laughing while the producers and photographer did nothing to stop her but some of my cast like Micheal Pitt and Brad Renfro kept telling her to shut up but she continued to say “Are You Gay?!”
Is it just me or is it super easy to imagine Bijou doing this? She’s like one of those feral children, like Nell but instead of being raised by a squirrels she was raised by sex, drugs and rock and roll. And instead of being rescued by Liam Neesons, she got saved by Scientology and alleged rapist Danny Masterson.
Daniel says that Bijou kept tormenting him until he finally told her he was Bi even though he didn’t really even know how he identified yet. Bijou responded by mocking him.
Like 10 times making sure to be loud enough for everyone to hear I reluctantly told her i was bi. Which at the time was how I was choosing to identify as “Q” wasn’t known to be an option yet and to be honest I don’t know that I had many gay experiences at the time my life. I was an extremely late bloomer. She cackled and said “HA! He’s bi!” And then when I showed up to work the next day in front of the crew she was screaming “Oh look! The Bi guy is here!”
According to Daniel, his co-stars Michael Pitt and Brad Renfro (RIP) stood up for him but Bijou was undeterred. During a scene where Daniel had to take his shirt off, he says that Bijou yelled “ewwww gross!!!‘”. She also reportedly “kept rubbing her dirty feet on his neck” and kicked him in the back of the head during one scene. He also alleges that when she was talked into apologizing, she ended up giving him a purple nurple instead. What I can’t get over is the fact that Bijou’s material was so lame. If you’re going to be an asshole, be a clever one! The Simpson’s Nelson would even be ashamed of her game.
Daniel says this treatment caused him to develop PTSD and made him stay in the closet longer that he would have. Bijou has since issued an apology. TMZ reports:
“I want to write to address what Daniel has said. I don’t remember that time well, those years are a blur. I was a teenager and reckless in my behavior. I know Daniel to be a trustworthy and honest person, and to find out through social media that I was not the friend I thought I was to him made me so sad.”
Drugs, they’re a helluva drug! Bijou says she has reached out and apologized privately to Daniel which is a nice change of pace. Daniel seems ready to move on.
We’ve all been hurt and we’ve all hurt someone. I️ accept your apology on the grace you can afford the same mercy to someone else one day.
— Daniel Franzese (@WhatsupDanny) November 13, 2017
The atmosphere these days is starting to feel like The Hunger Games meets Clue meets Deep Impact meets The Purge; a movie I definitely go see opening weekend.
Pic: Wenn.com