Freaks and Geeks star Busy Philipps has addressed the allegations of abuse lodged against her co-star James Franco and shed light on whether she plans to work with him again.
During an episode of The Last Laugh podcast, Philipps also weighed in on the recent creative split between Seth Rogen and Franco amid the latter's sexual exploitation lawsuit.
"I have to say, I mean, it's interesting. They were super close and they had a very tight relationship," Philipps said. "And so I don't have any information. I mean, I'm going to say something now, whatever — Seth is married to a very fucking smart woman."
"I guess I was surprised," Philipps elaborated, speaking of Rogen and Franco's split. "Although, to be honest with you, I haven't spent my days doing deep dives into what it all was. I didn't work with James past age 20, so I can only speak to the horrible behaviour I experienced."
She continued: "And I can't speculate on their friendship, but I wouldn't want to work with someone who has multiple allegations of predatory behaviour. So, in fact, I won't."
Philipps previously accused Franco of physical assault on the set of Freaks and Geeks, an account of which was detailed in her 2018 memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little.
In the book, Philipps says Franco was a "fucking bully" on set, and detailed an incident where she was directed to hit Franco in the chest while delivering a line. At this, Franco allegedly broke character and got angry, screamed at her and threw her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her.
In addition to her comments about Franco, Philipps also spoke about whether she thinks there has been a "#MeToo reckoning" and if the culture of abuse is finally changing in Hollywood:
I don't know. Again, I think at this point, I'm not at risk. I'm an almost 42-year-old woman who wrote a book where I named names of the people who were fucking dicks to me. So I don't think that I'm the person to ask about whether the industry has changed. Because I would assume that people are going to be smart enough to not fuck with me. But also I'm not an ingenue coming onto the scene, or a young woman coming onto the scene wanting to work and make it happen. The predators, I'm sure, still exist, and a few of the big ones have been rooted out, thank god, but whether there's a reckoning, I don't know.
Listen to the full interview below.
During an episode of The Last Laugh podcast, Philipps also weighed in on the recent creative split between Seth Rogen and Franco amid the latter's sexual exploitation lawsuit.
"I have to say, I mean, it's interesting. They were super close and they had a very tight relationship," Philipps said. "And so I don't have any information. I mean, I'm going to say something now, whatever — Seth is married to a very fucking smart woman."
"I guess I was surprised," Philipps elaborated, speaking of Rogen and Franco's split. "Although, to be honest with you, I haven't spent my days doing deep dives into what it all was. I didn't work with James past age 20, so I can only speak to the horrible behaviour I experienced."
She continued: "And I can't speculate on their friendship, but I wouldn't want to work with someone who has multiple allegations of predatory behaviour. So, in fact, I won't."
Philipps previously accused Franco of physical assault on the set of Freaks and Geeks, an account of which was detailed in her 2018 memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little.
In the book, Philipps says Franco was a "fucking bully" on set, and detailed an incident where she was directed to hit Franco in the chest while delivering a line. At this, Franco allegedly broke character and got angry, screamed at her and threw her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her.
In addition to her comments about Franco, Philipps also spoke about whether she thinks there has been a "#MeToo reckoning" and if the culture of abuse is finally changing in Hollywood:
I don't know. Again, I think at this point, I'm not at risk. I'm an almost 42-year-old woman who wrote a book where I named names of the people who were fucking dicks to me. So I don't think that I'm the person to ask about whether the industry has changed. Because I would assume that people are going to be smart enough to not fuck with me. But also I'm not an ingenue coming onto the scene, or a young woman coming onto the scene wanting to work and make it happen. The predators, I'm sure, still exist, and a few of the big ones have been rooted out, thank god, but whether there's a reckoning, I don't know.
Listen to the full interview below.
