HBO said there were no complaints about James Franco‘s behavior during production on The Deuce, the network’s new series about New York’s adult film industry in the 1970s.
“We have verified that no complaints about Mr. Franco have come in on The Deuce production,” the network told Deadline on Wednesday.
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Franco has faced allegations of sexual misconduct since he won a Golden Globe for The Disaster Artist last weekend. Although he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Late Night with Seth Meyers, a New York Times event with Franco was cancelled.
During the Golden Globes, two women — Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Violet Paley— took to Twitter to accuse Franco of sexual misconduct. The Breakfast Club star Ally Sheey, who appeared in a Franco-directed off-Broadway play in 2014, was also disappointed about Franco’s win.
“James Franco just won. Please never ever ask me why I left the film/tv business,” Sheedy wrote, without going into further details.
On Thursday, Tither-Kaplan, Paley and three other women told their stories to the Los Angeles Times, accusing Franco of sexual misconduct. Four of the women accused Franco of inappropriate behavior while they were his acting students.
Franco did not issue a new statement in response, but his attorney, Michael Plonsker, referred to his interview with Colbert.
“Look, in my life I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I have done. I have to do that to maintain my well being. 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 shut them down in any way,” the 39-year-old Franco said. “If I have done something wrong. I will fix it — I have to.”
The Deuce co-creator David Simon also issued a statement, saying that he has heard “no complaint” about Franco’s behavior.
“I’m still reading it the same as everyone else, trying to discern what is or isn’t there,” Simon said. “Personally I can only speak knowledgeably to The Deuce. I’ve checked with all my fellow producers and other personnel. We have no complainant or complaint or any awareness of any incident of concern involving Mr. Franco. Nor has HBO been approached with any complaint. In our experience, he was entirely professional as an actor, director, and producer.”
Franco stars in The Deuce as twin brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino. The show has already been picked up for a second season.
