Charlyne Yi has hit out at former co-star James Franco, saying his recent interview about his ‘sex addiction’ was ‘bulls**t’ and ‘performative’.
Back in January 2018, Franco was accused of sexual misconduct by five women - four of whom were his former students.
Two of the women - Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal - filed a lawsuit against the actor in October last year and in June 2021, a $2.2million settlement was reached.
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Speaking on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Podcast last week, Franco revealed he had a ‘sex addiction’ and admitted to sleeping with students who attended his acting school.
Yi, who has collaborated on a number of films with Franco including 2017’s The Disaster Artist, has since posted a clip on Instagram, warning that the footage contained ‘bulls***’ and ‘gaslighting’.
In the clip, Franco tells Cagle: “There were some complaints about me, and an article about me, and at that moment I just thought ‘I’m going to be quiet, I’m going to pause’.
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“It did not seem like the right time to say anything. There were people that were upset with me and I needed to listen.”
Yi, 35, began the post – which also featured a number of other clips and screenshots – by telling followers: “Content Warning: Bulls**t, sexual misconduct, power abuse, gaslighting.”
They continued: “No accountability, acknowledgement, or support from JF, or ‘adult in the room’ SR of victims/survivors’ loss & ptsd. No equal platform + biased passive language of press in support of abuser. Only performative accountability & self centering.
“Money + power + white patriarch controls narrative.
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“Accountability: direct language apologizing to victims/survivors *privately & publicly* on the same platforms abused, protect & hire victims/survivors (whose careers are ruined for speaking out, & lives are more vulnerable,) provide financial support for survivors to attain lifelong mental health support, & commit life to learn from BIPOC women leaders to dismantle white supremacy, patriarchal abuse, etc.
“The value of victims/survivors’ lives are not debatable bc of the bias of the bs idolization of white male celebrities. People are quicker to detract and make it about ‘cancel culture’ than condemn actual sexual predators who have ruined women’s lives & who only perform fakea** accountability while gaslighting victims to reattain power & continue w/ business.
“We are talking about lifelong mental heath issues, life and death, and the livelihood of victims/survivors. It is not up for debate.”
During the podcast, Franco admitted that he ‘did sleep with students and that was wrong’ but denied setting up the school as a way to meet women.
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He went on: “I suppose at the time, my thinking was if it’s consensual, okay. At the time I was not clear headed.”
He said he had a sex addiction after becoming sober following an addiction with alcohol.
“It’s such a powerful drug,” he said. “I got hooked on it for 20 more years. The insidious part of that is that I stayed sober from alcohol all that time.
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“And I went to meetings all that time. I even tried to sponsor other people. So in my head, it was like, 'Oh, I'm sober. I'm living a spiritual life'. Where on the side, I'm acting out now in all these other ways, and I couldn't see it.”
The actor says he’s been in ‘recovery’ from his sex addiction since 2016 and said he had ‘been doing a lot of work’ following the allegations.
“I didn’t want to hurt people,” he added.
Yi also accused Franco of being a 'sexual predator' earlier this year, claiming they had attempted to quit The Disaster Artist after hearing fresh allegations against Franco while filming.
They wrote on Instagram: "When I tried to break legal contract and quit Disaster Artist because James Franco is a sexual predator, they tried to bribe me with a bigger acting role.
"I cried and told them that was the exact opposite of what I wanted, that I didn’t feel safe working with a f***ing sexual predator."
Yi said the producers on the 2017 film, one of which was Rogen, minimised their concerns and said ‘Franco being a predator was so last year and that he changed’.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Celebrity