One of the women accusing American actor James Franco of sexual harassment has clarified that he is unlike the now infamous former producer Harvey Weinstein. Sarah Tither-Kaplan, one of Franco's former students at Studio 4 film school, stated that the 39-year-old actor used his fame and popularity to take advantage of her, but not to the extent that Weinstein did.
During an interview with "Good Morning America," Tither-Kaplan stated that Franco took advantage of his non-celebrity students under the false pretenses that he would provide them with opportunities in the entertainment business. Very emotionally, Tither-Kaplan also stated that she is aware of the risk that she is making by coming forward with accusations, since her actions might compromise her future in Hollywood.
Furthermore, Tither-Kaplan stated that there have been instances in the past wherein she and her fellow classmates were tasked to do some nude scenes for Franco's acting class, and had wished to have enough time to contemplate on whether she would agree to do them or not. The distraught accuser felt that the nude scenes were "gratuitous and exploitative," which made her feel uncomfortable agreeing to do them in the first place.
Despite her horrible experiences with Franco, Tither-Kaplan emphasized that the magnitude of Franco's abuse still differs from that of Weinstein's. She described the former film producer as an "unfeeling monster" who downright allegedly raped his victims; whereas Franco simply took advantage of his acting students by creating exploitative situations during his classes.
As of now, Franco and his camp have denied all of the allegations against the actor. Additionally, Franco has been very cautious as to who he meets up with and even changed his phone number after the allegations went public. Before the allegations even got out, Franco called various women that he has worked with in the past to apologize to them for whatever transgressions he may have committed to them in the past.
