James Franco Skips 2018 Critics’ Choice Awards Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations

James Franco has chosen not to attend the 2018 Critics’ Choice Awards following multiple accusations of sexually inappropriate behavior. Franco won the award for Best Actor in a Comedy for his performance in “The Disaster Artist.” The film was also nominated for Best Comedy Film and Best Actor.

The Los Angeles Times published a report on January 11 in which five women went on record accusing Franco of sexually inappropriate and exploitative behavior. Four of the accusers are Franco’s former acting students.

Sarah Tither-Kaplan was an actor on the set of Franco’s film “The Long Home” and was asked by a producer to appear in a “bonus scene” that included a simulated orgy. She agreed to appear fully nude in the background of the scene, but she told the Times that she saw Franco remove clear plastic guards that covered actresses’ vaginas “to simulate the sex act with no protection.”

Katie Ryan was also a former student of Franco’s and told the Times that the writer-actor-director “would always make everybody think there were possible roles on the table if we were to perform sexual acts or take off our shirts.”

Another woman, Violet Paley, was having a consensual romantic relationship with Franco in 2016 when she says he forced her to perform oral sex on him in her car.

Franco said during appearances on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” this week that the allegations against him are “not accurate.” The actor told Seth Meyers that he wasn’t going to “actively refute” the accusations since he felt every woman should be able to share her story.