The girls who accused James Franco of sexual exploitation entered into a pre-trial agreement with the actor and refused to claim.
American actor James Franco has settled a lawsuit by former students of his film school Studio 4, who accused him of sexual exploitation, reports Variety. According to the publication, two of the plaintiff, Sarah teeter-Kaplan and Toni Gaal — agreed to abandon their claims. The parties entered into a pre-trial agreement, while the financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
A class-action lawsuit against Franco was filed back in 2019. According to the plaintiffs, Franco, during master classes on shooting erotic scenes, forced his students to participate in explicit scenes in front of the camera, was angry at actresses who refused his sexual experiments, and promised roles in his films to those girls who agreed.
“James abused his power and exploited girls who dreamed of becoming famous,” said Sarah Teeter-Kaplan, one of their former Franco film school students.
Earlier, the actor’s lawyers called the girls ‘accusations untrue:” These statements are false and inflammatory, legally unfounded and incorrectly filed in the form of a class action. This trial is a travesty of justice and the culmination of a dishonest campaign that has unfairly tarnished the hard-earned reputation of a decent man.”
