James Franco discusses the end of his ’20 great years’ friendship with Seth Rogen

James Franco recently revealed that his long-standing friendship with Seth Rogen has come to an end.

The pair, who first crossed paths on the set of the 1999 television series Freaks and Geeks, collaborated on numerous films over nearly two decades, including Pineapple Express, The Interview, This Is The End, and The Disaster Artist.

Their professional partnership came to a sudden halt after Franco faced allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior from several women in 2018. The following year, two former students of Franco’s acting school filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit, which was settled by Franco in 2021.

In the same year, Rogen stated to The Sunday Times that he had no intentions of collaborating with Franco again due to the allegations. “What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and 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,” Rogen explained to the outlet.

“I 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,” he added. “I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.”

Franco has also commented on his former friendship and professional association with Rogen, telling Variety while promoting his film Hey Joe: “I haven’t talked to Seth. I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it’s over.”

“And not for lack of trying,” Franco continued. “I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me.”

Franco had previously admitted during a 2021 episode of SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Podcast that he had been involved with some of his students while teaching acting classes.

“Over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students, and that was wrong,” Franco acknowledged. “But like I said, it’s not why I started the school and I wasn’t the person that selected the people to be in the class.

“So it wasn’t a ‘master plan’ on my part. But yes, there were certain instances where, you know what, I was in a consensual thing with a student and I shouldn’t have been.”

He further addressed Rogen’s reaction to the allegations, stating: “I 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.

“What he said is true. You know, we aren’t working together right now and we don’t have any plans to work together.

“Of course, it was hurtful, in context, but I get it. He had to answer for me ’cause I was silent. He had to answer for me, and I don’t want that. So that’s why, that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you today: I don’t want Seth or my brother or anyone to have to answer for me anymore.”