Content Warning: This post briefly discusses allegations of sexual misconduct.
Seth Rogen and James Franco met on the set of Freaks and Geeks in 1999, when they were 17 and 21, respectively. And in the decades that followed, they became a beloved comedy duo, working together on movies such as Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, This Is the End, and The Interview.
In late 2017, James and Seth were riding high on the critical success of their Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning film, The Disaster Artist. But unbeknownst to them, their professional and personal relationship was about to change drastically.
On Jan. 11, 2018, James’s career was derailed when he was accused of sexual misconduct by five women. According to a Los Angeles Times report, four of the five accusers were students at James’s acting and film school, Studio 4. In 2019, two of the women filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit against James, accusing him of engaging 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.”
James settled the lawsuit for $2.2 million in July 2021. Two months earlier, Seth spoke publicly about the accusations, saying that he and James had no plans to work together again and that their friendship had been damaged. “What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it,” he told the Sunday Times.
James broke his silence on the allegations in December 2021, specifically saying that he found Seth’s comments about the end of their friendship “hurtful.” “I just wanna say I absolutely love Seth Rogen…I worked with him for 20 years. We didn’t have one fight for 20 years. Not one fight. He was my absolute closest work friend, collaborator. We just gelled,” James said in a SiriusXM interview. “What he said is true, you know, we aren’t working together right now, and we don’t have any plans to work together.”
Giving an update in October 2024, James told Variety that, despite his efforts to reconcile, his friendship with Seth was well and truly “over.” “And not for lack of trying,” he said. “I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me.”
Understandably, Seth has previously avoided publicly answering questions about James. Now, in a new interview with the New York Times, he’s opened up about why that is.
“I’m trying to think how much I want to personally share about this… I honestly think the nuance of it is too personal for me to get into right now. It is a very personal thing,” Seth said, hesitantly, after being asked about the broken friendship and how he’s processed it. “There’s the public-facing side of it, which I’ve spoken about, and I have the same stance publicly that I’ve had, and I think the proof is in the pudding — I have not worked with him in years. But the personal side of it is just so nuanced, and it involves people that I don’t know if I should be dragging into this.”
Noting that he and James “haven’t talked” in “a long time,” Seth continued: “I don’t know what I would benefit from getting deeply into it in this moment. Nothing has changed since the last time I’ve talked about all this, and I haven’t worked with him in a really long time, and I have no plans to.”
Given how rarely he discusses the topic, Seth’s response has gained a lot of attention online. And amid the commentary, people are praising him for standing “firm” in his decision to distance himself from James.
Seth’s comments come amid somewhat of a reemergence for James, who was recently cast in the upcoming Rambo prequel movie. In an interview with Deadline last month, the 48-year-old said that he just finished shooting a “big studio movie” and that he’s been focused on living a “positive life. “Honestly, like, I just try to be the best person I can be,” he said. “I think I was put on this planet to make movies. I try to make movies the best I can, and it’s kinda like all I can do.”
