Over the weekend, The Sunday Times published an interview with Seth Rogen, where he was asked about his decision to stick by James Franco after multiple women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, and after the actor propositioned a minor on Instagram. Rogen responded saying that he “despises abuse and harassment” and would never “cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that.” He also said that he has not worked with Franco in a while and does not plan to do so.
The question came a month after Charlyne Yi called out Rogen for continuing to work with Franco. She alleged that Rogen “bribed” her with a bigger role and heftier paycheck after she threatened to quit their 2017 film The Disaster Artist over the first wave of sexual misconduct allegations against Franco.
Following the Sunday Times interview (Rogen’s first time publicly addressing Yi’s accusations), Yi took to Instagram to voice her disappointment with Rogen absolving himself from blame. She also shared screenshots of Rogen and Franco being listed on IMDb as producers of the upcoming Hulu series, Pam & Tommy.
Yi also posted a checklist of what she feels is necessary for Rogen to do in this situation, which reads:
- Apologize to survivors for making their lives even more vulnerable by publicly siding with an abuser, further damaging their careers and safety
- Commit to educating self about coercion, SA (sexual assault), and how to be a proactive ally
- Promote protecting and hiring survivors
- Protect survivors
- Hire survivors
Shortly after Yi posted about Franco’s credits on Pam & Tommy, his name was scrubbed off the IMDb page for the series. The A.V. Club can confirm that Franco was involved with the project at one point, but it has been in development for years and he hasn’t been involved for quite some time now. In December, a press release announcing the casting Lily James and Sebastian Stan made no mention of Franco. So while he was just recently removed from the IMDB credits, that edit reflects a change that happened long before the current headlines.