Seth Rogen has revealed that he has no plans of working with frequent co-star and collaborator James Franco following allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour. Rogen during an interview also opened up about his 2014 'Saturday Night Live' opening monologue, in which he joked about a 17-year-old girl's allegation that Franco had direct messaged her on Instagram to meet up.
According to Variety.com, Rogen during the monologue had said that he decided to prank James Franco, "I posed as a girl on Instagram told him I was way young. He seemed unfazed. I have a date to meet him at the Ace Hotel." Opening up about the allegation against Franco, Seth said that he despises abuse and harassment. He said, "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." During the interaction, he further recalled the 2014 monologue and said, " I do look back at a joke I made on 'Saturday Night Live' in 2014 and I very much regret making that joke. It was a terrible joke, honestly." Notably, back in 2018 several students from Franco's acting school accused him of intimidating them into sexual situations. The actor denied allegations and settled the lawsuit in February 2021. Meanwhile, according to previous statements by Seth, he had agreed to continue working with Franco, however, he had now changed his mind. The actor revealed that the allegations affected his personal relationship with James Franco. "I also 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. I don't know if I can define that right now during this interview. I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic." concluded Seth. For the unversed, Seth Rogen and James Franco have worked together in several comedy films including This Is the End, Knocked Up, Bad Neighbours 2, The Interview, and more.