Charlyne Yi tried to quit The Disaster Artist over James Franco allegations

Actress Charlyne Yi is explaining how she tried to quit the 2017 film THE DISASTER ARTIST after allegations of misconduct started to surface about its star, James Franco. 

Yi took to her Instagram page and revealed that she tried to walk away from the film when allegations of sexually predatory behavior about Franco made her uncomfortable working with him. Yi, who played Safoya in the film, says “When I tried to break legal contract and quit Disaster Artist because James Franco is a sexual predator, they tried to bribe me with a bigger acting role. I cried and told them that that was the exact opposite of what I wanted, that I didn’t feel safe working with a f***ing predator. They minimized & said Franco being a predator was so last yr and that he changed…when I literally heard of him abusing new women that week.” You can check out Yi’s full post below:

At the time all this was going down, Franco had been accused of sexual misconduct with women at his former acting school. Other stories also surfaced about the actor and his alleged behavior and Franco always denied the claims. What’s interesting about Yi’s post is that she also called out frequent Franco collaborator Seth Rogen. Yi makes it a point to say that Rogen was a producer on The Disaster Artist and that he allegedly knew about the bribe in question. She also further called out Rogen for appearing in an SNL sketch with Franco in 2017 when the latter hosted the popular sketch show. The hosting gig came after Franco apologized for messaging an underage girl. Yi feels this makes Rogen more complicit in enabling Franco and she appears to believe he has been doing it for years.

Yi, who also appeared with Rogen in the hit comedy Knocked Up, was asked by a mutual friend to participate in an awareness event by sharing her abuse story. Yi says at the end of her post “This month is Sexual Assault Awareness Month when it should really be something men educate themselves about their whole life and learn how to be there & protect women, nonbinary, trans, etc—who are targeted.” Yi also called out Rogen in another Instagram post for enabling Franco and she also took anyone else to task who she feels gave Franco a platform to engage in his alleged predatory behavior. You can check out those posts below:

Representatives for Rogen didn’t comment on Yi’s Instagram posts and the same can also be said for Franco’s. A lot of people will have varying opinions on this but the one I hear often is why did so and so stay on the job if they were so uncomfortable? According to Yi, she tried to quit and break her legal contract only to be greeted with an alleged bribe. It might seem pointless to some for people to rehash an event from over five years ago but if someone feels they need to speak their truth, who am I to deny them of that right? 

What are YOUR thoughts on Charlyne Yi’s claims?

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