James Franco shuts down sexual harassment allegations after Golden Globes backlash

James Franco has denied the allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against him, claiming he has “no idea why” the actress who alluded to his inappropriate behaviour was “upset”.

Franco sparked criticism for wearing a Time’s Up badge in support of the movement against sexual harassment to the Golden Globes where he won Best Actor for The Disaster Artist.

The Breakfast Club star Ally Sheedy called out Franco using the #MeToo hashtag as she criticised awards bosses for honouring the actor although she did not make specific allegations against him.

In now deleted tweets, Sheedy – who worked with Franco on his Off-Broadway directorial debut, The Long Shrift – wrote: “Why is James Franco allowed in? Said too much.”

Another read: “James Franco just won. Please never ever ask me why I left the film/tv business.”

Asked about the allegations on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Franco said: “Okay, first of all, I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy, I directed her in a play Off-Broadway. I had nothing but a great time with her, total respect for her. I have no idea why she was upset.

“She took the tweet down. I don’t know. I can’t speak for her, I don’t know.”

Addressing further allegations from a handful of women on Twitter he continued: “The others… look, in my life, I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I’ve done. I have to do that to maintain my well-being. I do it whenever I know that there is something wrong or needs to be changed, I make it a point to do it.”

“The things that I heard that were on Twitter are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice because they didn’t have a voice for so long.

“I don’t want to, you know, shut them down in any way. It’s, I think, a good thing and I support it.”

Franco said he wore the Time's Up badge as he is 100 per cent behind the movement and the #MeToo campaign.