Stephen Colbert Grills James Franco on Sexual Assault Allegations in Tense Interview
To his credit, Colbert didn't back down.

After James Franco wore a #TimesUp pin during his Golden Globes (opens in new tab) win on Sunday night, Twitter seemed to ignite with accusations of sexual misconduct—stemming from now-deleted tweets from Ally Sheedy in which she used the #MeToo hashtag and wrote, "Why is James Franco allowed in? Said too much," and, "James Franco just won. Please never ever ask me why I left the film/tv business."
To his credit, Stephen Colbert didn't shy away from asking Franco about what was going on during an interview, and Franco denied knowing what Sheedy was referring to.
James Franco and Ally Sheedy at the after party for The Long Shrift’s opening night in 2014.
"There were some things on Twitter. I haven’t read them. I’ve heard about them," the actor said. "Okay, first of all, I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy, I directed her in a play Off-Broadway. I had nothing but a great time with her, total respect for her. I have no idea why she was upset. She took the tweet down. I don’t know. I can’t speak for her, I don’t know."
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In regards to other accusatory tweets (opens in new tab), Franco said, "The others, look, in my life, I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I’ve done. I have to do that to maintain my well-being. I do it whenever I know that there is something wrong or needs to be changed, I make it a point to do it. The things that I heard that were 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. So I don’t want to, you know, shut them down in any way. It’s, I think, a good thing and I support it."
Later in the conversation, he added, "The way I live my life, I can’t live if there’s restitution to be made. I will make it. So if I’ve done something wrong, I will fix it. I have to. I mean, I think that’s how that works."
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Mehera Bonner is a celebrity and entertainment news writer who enjoys Bravo and Antiques Roadshow with equal enthusiasm. She was previously entertainment editor at Marie Claire and has covered pop culture for over a decade.
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