Ashley Judd says James Franco’s response to sexual harassment allegations against him has been "terrific".
The 39-year-old actor was the subject of several "#MeToo" tweets during the Golden Globes last weekend, where he picked up the award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his performance in ‘The Disaster Artist’.
James spoke about the tweets, including those from actress Ally Sheedy, and denied any claims of sexual harassment made against him.
He said: "I haven’t read them. I’ve heard about them. I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy. I had nothing but a great time with her. I have total respect for her.
"I was so excited to win, but being in the room that night was powerful. I support change.
"In my life, I pride myself in taking responsibility for things I’ve done. I have to do that to maintain my well-being. I do it whenever something needs to be changed … I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice because they haven’t had a voice for so long. I don’t want to shut them down in any way. It’s a good thing I support.
If I have done something wrong, I will fix it – I have to. That’s how that works. I don’t know what else to do.
"The point is to listen. I am here to listen and learn and change perspective where it’s off. I’m completely willing and want to."
And Ashley, 49, who was one of the first women to publicly accuse disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment last year, was impressed with James’ response.
She told the BBC: "I think that what James said is terrific. And I think that we’ve all behaved – at a certain level – unconsciously, and done things that were insensitive, inappropriate, without necessarily understanding that they were. I mean we’ve all operated with a certain amount of tone-deafness, and I like the culpability, and we have to have restorative justice. This is about men and women being all together and having a more equitable and just workplace, home life, social spaces."
Ashley Judd praises ‘terrific’ James Franco
