Seth Rogen has admitted he was surprised to hear that James Franco brought up the rift between them during a recent interview.
The two actors previously worked together on a string of films in the 2000s and 2010s including Pineapple Express, This Is The End, The Interview and The Disaster Artist.
However, in 2021, Seth made it clear he had no plans to work with his former collaborator again in the future, following sexual misconduct allegations made against James by two of his former acting students.
James denied the allegations when they were first made, and later reached a legal settlement with his accusers, with Seth telling The Times around this time it was “not a coincidence” that he no longer wanted to work with his former co-star.
Last year, James was quoted as saying: “I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it’s over. And not for lack of trying. I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me.”
Asked about James’ comments during a new interview with Esquire, the Superbad star responded: “Honestly, I absorb so little media that it really wasn’t on my radar.”
Esquire’s reporter claimed that Seth was “clearly not surprised” to be asked about James during the interview, but was similarly “just as clearly not happy” about the line of questioning.
During his 2021 interview with The Times, Seth refuted the suggestion that he could be described as an “enabler” with regards to his former co-star.
“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,” he said.
Seth added: “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.”