Seth Rogen Says He Has No Plans To Work With James Franco Again

Last month, Charlyne Yi called James Franco a sexual predator who preys on children and added that Seth Rogen has been enabling him. Charlyne appeared in their 2017 film The Disaster Artist and says she tried to break her contract and quit cuz James is an alleged creep. She claims producers responded by minimizing the accusations against James and trying to bribe her with a bigger role.

Now Seth has finally addressed the accusations. In an interview with the Sunday Times Magazine to promote his new memoir, Yearbook, Seth says his friendship with James was affected by the accusations. Seth says he would never cover up abuse and harassment, and he currently has no plans to work with James in the future.

In 2018 five women accused James of sexually inappropriate and exploitative behavior (two accusers quietly reached settlement agreements with him earlier this year). After the accusations came out, Seth initially told a reporter he’d keep working with James. Now he’s changed his mind (via Hollywood Reporter):

“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.”

Then he added, “But, hey, if the price is right!” and winked at the female interviewer (JK JK JK).

When asked if he believed the accusations from Charlyne Yi, Seth 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.”

Seth is referring to Charlyne calling him out for a joke he made on Saturday Night Live in 2014, which she says enabled James to continue preying on children. That joke occurred in the monologue. Seth did a bit where he was reading excerpts from his “journal”, and said:

“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.”

Franco later popped up to quip: “Hey, great prank, buddy. I’ve been waiting at the Ace Hotel for three days.”

This was immediately after James was caught trying to pick up a 17-year-old on Instagram. Here’s the clip:

In the interview with the Sunday Time Magazine, Seth says his relationship with James has been affected by the allegations but declined to confirm if they were still friends:

“I don’t know if I can define that right now during this interview. I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic,” he said.

Asked if that was painful, Rogen added: “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.”

Charlyne took to Instagram to respond to Seth’s claim that he has not worked with James since the accusations:

Oh, look! According to those screenshots, both James and Seth are producers on Hulu’s upcoming series Pam and Tommy! But when I went to the show’s IMDb page to check this, the James credit was nowhere to be seen. He’s been erased. Or it was a mistake? Hmmm. HMMMMM. The most scintillating Hollywood mystery since the Black Dahlia…

Pic: Wenn.com