What Happened Between Seth Rogen and James Franco? Why the Longtime Partners Ended Their 25-Year Friendship

10/25/2024 04:29 PM

Seth Rogen and James Franco were friends and collaborators who worked together since 1999's 'Freaks and Geeks.' But now, their friendship is 'over'

As two of comedy's most famous talents, Seth Rogen and James Franco had a long history of riffing off one another and collaborating. However, that all came to an end in 2018.

The Pineapple Express actorsfirst worked together on the 1999 show Freaks and Geeks when both were just getting their start in Hollywood. Since then, the two became a dynamic duo starring in hit comedies together from 2007's Knocked Up to 2017's The Disaster Artist.

However, in 2018, five women, four of whom were his acting students, accused Franco of sexually inappropriate behavior in a Los Angeles Times article. The following year, two of the four former students proceeded to file a sexual misconduct lawsuit against the actor, which he settled two years later.

The allegations seemed to drive a rift between Franco and his longtime friend, with Rogen telling The Sunday Times in May 2021 that he had no future plans to work with Franco.

"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 said.

Three years later, Franco admitted to Variety in October 2024 that his friendship with Rogen was never repaired.

"I haven't talked to Seth. I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it's over," he said.

So what happened between Seth Rogen and James Franco? Here's everything to know about why their 25-year friendship came to an end.

How did Rogen and Franco's friendship start?

Rogen and Franco first met on the set of Freaks and Geeks when Rogen was 17 and Franco was 22. The two didn't work together for some time after that until they reunited for 2008's Pineapple Express, Rogen admitted on CBS' The Early Show.

"We didn't have a falling out or anything; he just became very successful after Freaks and Geeks, and I just sat on my couch and researched this movie for two years," he joked, referring to the film's story being about two stoners.

Since then, the two have collaborated on 2013's This Is the End, 2014's The Interview, 2016's Sausage Party and 2017's The Disaster Artist.

"I generally have a movie with a Franco here almost every single year, culminating in this year with two Francos," Rogen told SXSW at the festival in 2017 alongside Franco and his brother Dave Franco, who also starred in The Disaster Artist.

When it came to how far the two would go to commit to their comedy, Franco and Rogen admitted in a Q&A with Moviefone that they were comfortable enough with each other that they would be open to anything that caused laughs.

"I think the lesson you taught me is that if it's funny, you can kind of do anything," Franco said.

What was Franco accused of?

The 2018 Golden Globe Awards, where the duo were nominated for their work directing and producing The Disaster Artist, marked the last time Franco and Rogen were photographed together publicly.

In the days following the show, Franco was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by five women, including four of whom used to be his students. The women alleged in a Los Angeles Times article that the actor abused his power as their teacher at the film school he founded to manipulate them into performing inappropriate acts, including allegedly removing safety guards while filming an oral sex scene.

"I got it in my head pretty quickly that, OK, you don't say 'no' to this guy," one of the women, Sarah Tither-Kaplan, said. "I feel there was an abuse of power, and there was a culture of exploiting non-celebrity women, and a culture of women being replaceable."

Franco's attorney denied each of the allegations at the time, also citing Franco's appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert earlier that week in which he addressed the accusations as a formal denial.

However, over a year later, in October 2019, Tither-Kaplan and another one of the women, Toni Gaal, filed a lawsuit against Franco alleging that he "engaged in widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behavior towards female students," per the suit.

Franco once again denied the allegations, and in February 2021, he reached a settlement with the women in which he agreed to pay $2,235,000.

Why did Rogen say he would never work with Franco again?

When Franco was first accused, Rogen said he would continue working with the actor in an April 2018 interview with Vulture.

"The truth is that my perspective on this is the least relevant perspective," he said. "I'm friends with these people and I'm a dude. All that combined makes me the last person who should be talking about this."

However, three years later, Rogen went back on his comments and even admitted he regretted what he said, as well as a 2014 joke on Saturday Night Live in which he said he decided to prank Franco by posing as a girl on Instagram and telling him he was "way young."

"I do look back at a joke I made on Saturday Night Live in 2014 and I very much regret making that joke," Rogen told The Sunday Times. "It was a terrible joke, honestly. And I also 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 that it was "not a coincidence" that his professional relationship with Franco came to an end, and added that the situation affected his personal relationship as well.

"I don't know if I can define that right now during this interview," he said of their friendship. "I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic."

How did Franco respond to the end of their friendship?

Later that year, Franco appeared on SiriusXM radio where he admitted that he still "loves" Rogen and that the two did not have a single fight in the 20 years they worked together.

"He was my absolute closest work friend, collaborator, we just gelled," Franco said. "What he said is true — we aren't working together and we don't have any plans to work together."

The actor said that while it was "hurtful" to hear Rogen say their professional relationship was over, he understood because "he had to answer for me because I was silent."

In an October 2024 interview with Variety, Franco shared an update that the status of his friendship with Rogen hadn't changed, and the pair's relationship seemed irreparable.

"And not for lack of trying," he said. "I've told him how much he's meant to me."

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