Get this – James Franco has said he was a 'gentleman' while flirting with a 17-year-old girl because he asked her if she had a boyfriend before propositioning her. Which he thinks makes the whole incident okay.
If you need a catch-up, this is the paragraph for you – a few weeks ago, 36-year-old James got embroiled in a bit of a scandal after a Scottish girl, 17, unveiled private messages between them on Instagram.
After being tagged – at his request – in Lucy Clode's video she'd taken of him signing autographs outside rehearsals for his new Broadway play, Of Mice And Men, they got talking via Instagram messenger and text. Lucy then uploaded the screengrabs online, and while they're not exactly filthy, they do involve him repeatedly asking if they should rent a hotel, if she's single etc.
And it's definitely him, as he complied with her request to post a selfie with her name written on a piece of paper, something a faker wouldn't have just had lying around.
The incident didn't go down well, with Franco being called a creep and all sorts of words much worse.
But when the actor himself was asked about it on Howard Stern's radio show, he insisted he was the one being chased. He said, 'Here's the thing ... The way that the news wants to do it, because the way flashy headlines [are]... They make it like, I'm perusing young woman.'
Instead, he insists what really happens makes perfect sense given his job. 'I'm not going to high schools looking for dates. I'm leaving my work and they're coming there. And look, my fan base is like, you know, 17 year olds to 30-year-old women – that's my biggest fan base,' he says, pretty much entirely missing the point. Just because a teenager fancies you, doesn't mean you should fancy them back. Duh. That's like, the first rule of not being a paedo.
James added, though, 'I was a gentleman, I said, "Do you have a boyfriend?" and her response was, "Not when you're around." So that to me sounds like, OK, she's interested.'
Big claps to James Franco, who's managed to establish that despite the bitty face hair and the increasing reputation for being a dick, people will still fancy him. However, checking if someone is single before you try to organise a night in bed with them doesn't make them any older.
This isn't the first time James has gone a bit too far with a teenager either. He 'admitted' to Stern that when he was 26, he got off with a 17-year-old Lindsay Lohan at the Chateau Marmont. 'Alright, maybe we kissed. But it was lame,' he shared. Apparently he asked himself, 'What they hell am I doing?' But maybe he simply had no control over the situation, as Lindsay was 'stalking' him, breaking into his room. He said: 'I opened my eyes and there's Lindsay in my room at 3am.'
All of which leaves us thinking, maybe James* should* be dating teenagers… After all, he is behaving like a teenage boy, passing the blame like he isn't even an adult with the capacity to make his own decisions.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.