James Franco’s justification for sleeping with his students is something else
James Franco has broken his silence about sleeping with students of his now-defunct acting school, six months after settling a class-action sexual misconduct suit for $2.2 million.The Milk star said in an interview with SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle that he did not start the school, Studio 4, to create a “a pipeline of young women” to have sex with, as the suit claims.“I think some people listening to this will say, how could you not see that there would be a power imbalance among a teacher — who’s not just a teacher, but is James Franco, a very, very famous, powerful actor and producer — and a student?” Cagle asks Franco in the interview.Franco admits he knew the power imbalance inherent in the encounters was “probably not a cool thing,” but that.
