New York Times cancels James Franco event after sexual misconduct allegations

  • 10/01/2018
James Franco with his Golden Globe
Franco has a history of sexual misconduct allegations. Photo credit: Getty

The New York Times has announced its is cancelling an event celebrating James Franco's film The Disaster Artist, after criticism emerged over his historic sexual misconduct allegations.

While Franco picked up the Golden Globe for his performance in the film as Tommy Wise, director of The Room, only on Sunday, the NYT released a statement on Tuesday (local time) saying they were "no longer comfortable" proceeding with the event. 

"The event was intended to be a discussion of the making of the film, The Disaster Artist. Given the controversy surrounding recent allegations, we're no longer comfortable proceeding in that vein."

On Sunday, Franco was one of many actors sporting a pin pledging their support for the 'Time's Up' movement, a multi-pronged campaign to address sexual harassment and gender discrimination. But after his award, women came forward on social media to accuse him of inappropriate behaviour.

Actress Violet Paley wrote on Twitter on Sunday: "Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17? After you had already been caught doing that to a different 17 year old?"

In 2014, Franco admitted to trying to organise a hotel rendezvous with a 17-year-old girl on Instagram.

Newshub.