On the same day the New York Times canceled a scheduled panel event with James Franco, “The Disaster Artist” actor-director said on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” that recent accusations of sexual misconduct against him are “not accurate.” But, Franco said he supports the women coming forward and that “if I’ve done something wrong, I will fix it. I have to. I don’t know what else to do.”
After Franco won Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy at the 75th Golden Globes Sunday, several women accused him of sexual misconduct on Twitter. “There were some things on Twitter, I haven’t read them. I’ve heard about them,” Franco said about the accusations, which included a cryptic tweet by Ally Sheedy, who Franco directed in an off-Broadway production in 2014.
“I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy,” Franco said. “I had nothing but a great time with her. I have total respect for her. I have no idea why she was upset. She took the tweet down… I can’t speak for her.”
The other accusers included actress Violet Paley, who said that several years ago he forced her to perform oral sex on him and that he asked one of her friends, then 17-year-old, to come to a hotel where he was staying. Paley later said that “a couple of weeks ago,” Franco called her and “a few other girls” to apologize for past behavior.
Franco did not mention the accusers by name, but said, “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’s something wrong that needs to be changed. I make it a point to do it.”
“The things that I heard were on Twitter are not accurate,” Franco continued. “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 shut them down in any way, and I think it’s a good thing and I support it.”
Franco added: “If I’ve done something wrong, I will fix it. I have to. I don’t know what else to do. As far as the bigger issue of how we do it, I really don’t have the answers. I think the point of this whole thing is that we listen. I’m here to listen and learn and change my perspective where it’s off. I’m completely willing and want to.”
On Tuesday, the New York Times canceled a Wednesday panel event with James and Dave Franco to discuss “The Disaster Artist.” The paper later said in a statement given to Variety that it canceled the event due to “the controversy surrounding recent allegations.”
Representatives for Franco and for the New York Times did not immediately respond to requests for comment from TheWrap.