Seth Rogen has said he has no plans to work with former frequent collaborator James Franco after his Freaks and Geeks co-star was accused of sexual misconduct.
Rogen and Franco have worked together on numerous projects since the short-lived 1999 TV series, including movies such as Pineapple Express, This Is the End and The Disaster Artist, for which Franco won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award.
In 2018, five women, including Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, accused Franco of sexually inappropriate or exploitative behaviour. They were former acting students at the film school Franco founded, Studio4.
In a lawsuit, the female students alleged they were pushed into taking part in explicit sex scenes "that went far beyond the standards in the industry".
In a statement to The New York Times, Franco's lawyer Michael Plonsker denied the accusations and called the lawsuit "ill-informed".
Tither-Kaplan and Gaal reached settlement agreements with Franco earlier this year.
When the accusations were first made in 2018, Rogen, who was a producer on The Disaster Artist, said he would keep working with Franco, but now says he has had a change of mind.
Speaking to the Sunday Times Magazine, Rogen said: "I … look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to right now."
Asked if he believes the allegations, Rogen replied: "What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I 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."
