Seth Rogen Says He Has No Plans to Work With James Franco Again
It wasn’t that long ago that Seth Rogen and James Franco were among the busiest and most successful comedy teams in Hollywood. The pair first worked together on Freaks and Geeks, then appeared in a series of popular movie comedies including Pineapple Express, This Is the End, The Interview, Sausage Party, and The Disaster Artist.
Then, in 2018, Franco was accused of sexually inappropriate behavior by numerous women after he wore a Time’s Up pin at the Golden Globes. In an interview around that time, Rogen said he would continue working with Franco, but the two have not collaborated again since the allegations came to light. Now, in a new interview, Rogen admits he changed his mind, and does “not plan to” work with Franco again. (He also said it was “not a coincidence” that he stopped working with Franco around the same time the allegations against him became public.)
Rogen’s comments appeared in The Sunday Times. When the topic of Franco and the allegations came up, 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 ... However, 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.
The joke in question appeared during Rogen’s monologue, when he read an entry from his “journal” from hosting Saturday Night Live and quipped that he “decided to prank” Franco by posing as a girl who was “way young” on Instagram. (You can see it around the two minutes and 30 second mark.)
Franco denied the allegations of misconduct; a lawsuit related to the allegations was settled earlier this year.
Asked what Rogen’s relationship with Franco is like right now, Rogen said “I don’t know if I can define that right now during this interview.” In other words, don’t expect to ever see Pineapple Express 2.
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