Actor James Franco has been accused of exploiting young girls at Studio 4, his now-closed acting school. Two women, former students of Franco have filed a lawsuit against the actor, alleging that he, along with his associates ran the school for the sole purpose of taking sexual advantage of aspiring actors.
Filing the complaint at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal said that Franco and his partners “engaged in widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behavior towards female students by sexualizing their power as a teacher and an employer by dangling the opportunity for roles in their projects,” as reported by Variety.
According to the complaint, Franco taught a master class on sex scenes at his school in New York that was established in 2014. These masterclasses were preceded by auditions where students were made to engage in unusually explicit sexual activity, according to the complainants. These auditions would be taped and reviewed and admissions would be based on them, said the plaintiffs.
The complaint not only states claims of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, but also fraud, and false advertising. It looks to law down two plaintiff classes; one for students who were sexually exploited, and one for all Studio 4 students for falling prey to fraud.
“This is not the first time that these claims have been made and they have already been debunked,†said Franco’s attorney, Michael Plonsker. “James will not only fully defend himself, but will also seek damages from the plaintiffs and their attorneys for filing this scurrilous publicity seeking lawsuit,” he added, making it clear that they will be taking the case head on.
One of the complainants, Sarah Tither-Kaplan, is also one of the five women who had earlier leveled allegations of sexual assault against Franco in 2018, claims that were denied back then as well.
