Critics' Choice Awards 2018: James Franco wins best actor in a comedy but skips ceremony after sexual misconduct allegations

No-show: James Franco had been due to attend the event in Santa Monica
REUTERS
Tom Powell12 January 2018
The Weekender

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James Franco won best actor in a comedy at the Critics' Choice Awards just hours after five women accused him of sexually inappropriate behaviour.

The under-fire actor was awarded the honour on Thursday night for his role in The Disaster Artist but did not appear in person to collect the accolade.

Organisers had billed the event in Santa Monica as being attended by Franco, but after announcing him as the winner, actor Walton Goggins said: "James couldn't be here tonight to accept this, so we will accept it on his behalf."

It came after the LA Times reported that two former student actresses who studied under Franco said he became hostile and stormed off when they did not volunteer to remove their clothes during a scene at a strip club.

Another student, Sarah Tither-Kaplan, 26, alleged that Franco removed protective coverings on other actresses' vaginas while simulating oral sex on them during filming of The Long Home in May 2015, the paper reported.

Franco's lawyer, Michael Plonsker, told the paper "the allegations about the protective guards are not accurate".

Cynthia Huffman, the film's casting director, added: "All actresses were aware of the nudity scenes ahead of time. I personally checked on all the actresses constantly to make sure they were OK and comfortable. I did not receive any complaints."

Franco's publicist pointed towards the actor previously saying allegations made on social media following his Golden Globes victory were "not accurate".

Franco told The Late Show With Stephen Colbert this week: "The things that I heard that were on Twitter are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice, because they didn't have a voice for so long."

The 23rd Critics' Choice Awards were organised by the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association and were held at the Barker Hangar, in Santa Monica, California.

Critics Choice Awards 2018 - In pictures

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