James Franco Sexual Misconduct Suit Settled, Terms Undisclosed

A settlement has reportedly been reached in the James Franco sexual misconduct lawsuit from 2019 filed on the claims that the actor forced female students at his studio into sexual situations. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed.

Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, mentees of Franco at his now-shut acting school Studio 4, had alleged that he pressed his students into performing explicit scenes in an "orgy type setting" under the garb of teaching. These revelations came tailing a few other #MeToo allegations against Franco, most notably from fellow actor Ally Sheedy.

As per the Associated Press, the complainants' attorneys Saturday confirmed a settlement in the case. The two parties filed a report at the Los Angeles Superior Court, with Kaplan and Gaal agreeing to drop their allegations against Franco.

James Franco Sexual Misconduct Lawsuit Charges Dropped

In 2018, as Franco stepped onto the Golden Globes stage to accept his Best Actor award for The Disaster Artist wearing a Time's Up pin to exhibit support for the movement against sexual harassment, a wave of allegations overtook social media with women claiming he had misbehaved with them.

Sheedy, of Breakfast Club fame, wrote in a series of tweets, "James Franco just won. Please never ever ask me why I left the film/tv business." She later deleted it.

The same week, Franco made an appearance on Stephen Colbert's talk show, saying the allegations were not true but he supported the movement. "The things I heard are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out because they didn’t have a voice for so long. I don’t want to shut them down in any way. I think its a good thing and I support it," he ">said.

Charges of James Franco sexual misconduct

Acting students of Franco began coming forward with their stories, some claiming he "would always make everybody think there were possible roles on the table if we were to perform sexual acts or take off our shirts." In 2019, an official class-action suit was filed by two ex-students.

Franco’s attorneys had previously argued that the plaintiff's claims were "false and inflammatory, legally baseless and brought as a class action with the obvious goal of grabbing as much publicity as possible."