These are photos of Emma Roberts wearing a Chloe dress at a New Yorkers for Children event last week. I haven’t talked yet about her new blonde bob, which looks really good. What doesn’t look good? Emma disregarding James Franco’s Instagram antics.

I don’t expect this Emma story to gain as much traction as one about the defenders of Woody Allen. Emma seems to inspire boredom in comment threads. People were alarmed when she was arrested for domestic violence for biting and hitting Evan Peters. They got got dramatically engaged a few months later, and no one cared. Let’s do this anyway.

James was busted a month ago by the internet for trying to pick up a 17-year-old girl on Instagram. Franco “apologized” for his antics by admitting, “I used bad judgment.” His explanation was that it was super hard to meet people because he’s so famous. There was nothing in his apology about the creep factor of a 36-year-old man hitting on a teenager. Some people thought the whole thing was a publicity stunt for Palo Alto (he plays a coach that beds a high school student). I think he was trying to score and knew people would believe it was a stunt.

Emma Roberts is now promoting her role in Palo Alto as the teenager seduced by Franco. She says that Instagram stuff meant nothing at all and is completely “irrelevant” to her:

After James Franco’s Instagram conversation with a 17-year-old went viral, rumors swirled that the whole thing was a publicity stunt to promote Franco’s new film “Palo Alto,” which is screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.

When Franco’s co-star Emma Roberts and director Gia Coppola joined HuffPost Live’s Josh Zepps to discuss “Palo Alto,” neither woman was keen on talking about the Instagram incident.

“I honestly didn’t read any of it. When people sent it to me, I was like, ‘I don’t want to read about this.’ It’s irrelevant,” Roberts said.

Coppola added that she has not spoken to Franco about the matter and said only that he is “such a great, giving guy.”

Roberts was more open about her relationship with Franco on film. Roberts plays a virginal high school student who develops a flirtatious relationship with her soccer coach, portrayed by Franco. Despite some critics labeling the characters’ relationship as “too creepy to be hot,” Roberts said the age difference never felt gratuitous.

“And I think also because I wasn’t really 15 or 16, I think that kind of lightened the mood with shooting those scenes. I was 21, so it wasn’t like anything bad was actually happening,” Roberts added.

[From HuffPo]

Emma could have told HuffPo that she simply didn’t want to discuss the Franco Instagram controversy. She decided to throw a little attitude in there instead. What does Emma even mean by “irrelevant“? Other than “I’m not interested and want to stick my head in the sand,” I don’t know. Emma’s previously gone off on how nepotism doesn’t exist in Hollywood, so I think she falls into denial when she doesn’t like an interview question.

You’ve probably already heard about Franco’s semi-NSFW nude paintings of Seth Rogen. Franco also has a new art exhibit out at the Pace gallery. Reviews are astoundingly bad. Vulture is convinced that George W. Bush is a better artist than Franco. The Daily Beast wonders why the art world still bothers with Franco at all. The New York Times says Franco is “embarrassingly clueless when it comes to art.” I’m surprised Franco hasn’t called the NYT critic “a little bitch” yet.

Franco is still finding time (while starring on Broadway) to post more gross, shirtless selfies to his Instagram account.

Photos courtesy of WENN & James Franco on Instagram