James Franco Is Being Accused Of Sexually Exploiting Students At His Acting School

Studio 4 held classes in New York and Los Angeles before abruptly closing back in October 2017.

As reported by the New York Times, the men allegedly "engaged in widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behavior towards female students by sexualizing their power as a teacher and an employer by dangling the opportunity for roles in their projects."

Tither-Kaplan was one of Studio 4's first students.

Franco taught a "master class" called Sex Scenes. According to the complaint, students had to not only audition for the class, but pay an extra $750 for it.

"I wanted to do my best... So I did what seemed to be the thing that they wanted in this class, and that was get naked and do sex scenes and not complain and, you know, push the envelope. And ... I felt encouraged when I just went for it."

In 2016, Franco made a docuseries based on his Sex Scenes class that he posted on his Facebook page.

"We were consistently auditioning for projects that had nudity, and we had to upload our self-tapes at home, so they were consistently getting footage of this sensitive nature of work," she told the publication.

Four days later, the Los Angeles Times published five seperate women’s accounts (including Tither-Kaplan) of sexual misconduct by the actor, including several stemming from requests Franco allegedly made of the young actresses enrolled in classes at his acting school.

Franco has denied the allegations.