I never thought I’d defend James Franco for anything at all. He usually irritates me by creeping on teenage girls and acting douchey by calling a critic “a little bitch” for a bad review. For the moment, I’m on Franco’s side. This is a photo from Scott Haze’s Twitter of himself with Franco. Scott’s not a household name, but he and James are pretty tight. They’ve known each other for a decade and went to acting school together. Franco directed Scott in Child of God and The Long Shrift. Haze will also appear alongside Franco in The Sound and the Fury, which is yet another classic that Franco will butcher under the guise of “directing.”
Franco and Haze did a joint interview with the New York Times to promote Child of God. They met with the journo for two hours in a restaurant, and precious little was reported about the movie. The article zeroed in on James and Scott’s relationship: “They are now so close that describing them merely as friends would be a disservice.” The journo says Franco and Haze didn’t need separate cabs at the end of the night because, as Franco states, “We live in the same place.” They’re sharing a Brooklyn apartment for the summer, apparently.
Did you hear that? James and Scott are roommates. James has directed Scott in several recent projects. They are close friends. There was no mention of a romantic relationship at all. Even if James and Scott are getting it on together, why is it any of our business? If they want to confirm or deny, then fine. But they have done neither.
People jumped to conclusions, of course. Gawker made a huge deal out of the roommate situation with a piece titled, “James Franco is Living with a Man.” James quickly responded on Instagram: “GAWKER – always getting the cutting edge, homophobic scoop!!! Go see CHILD OF GOD in theaters and see me direct my live-in boyfriend, SCOTT HAZE!!! Love you SCOTT!!!!”
James also Instagrammed a photo of himself with Lana Del Rey. He captioned the picture, “Oh snap, we got married. JUST KIDDING!!!” James Franco is such a troll. If only for today, his troll-like behavior is justified.
James has always been very aware of the rumors about his sexuality. He once told the Daily Beast, “I wish I was gay.” Franco has had girlfriends before. Maybe he’s bisexual, or maybe he’s straight. Who knows. That’s James Franco’s business.
Photos courtesy of James Franco on Instagram, Scott Haze on Twitter & WENN
Not Faulkner! Franco has now gone too far.
I may just be shunned out of here by you guys, but my opinion is that this is a catch 22.
James is well known for playing with his sexuality and his sexual orientation and making art out of it. In essence, inviting the public to ask questions about his sexuality. And on the other, he (rightfully) bashes gawker at the same time for questioning his sexuality…
So I thought to myself, ‘what’s getting him so mad this time?’… because this time, it’s reality, it’s his real life gawker is talking about, otherwise it wouldn’t really phase him.
Thus the catch 22
It’s fun, and trendy to play at homosexuality, but when it is put up to his real life, game’s over, no?
Franco uses gay people. He is straight and plays with gay to promote himself. It is so constant that’s its a meme at Towleroad. Gay people aren’t pets or a block to take advantage of.
@Bear-well said!! I don’t care that he lives with a gay guy..I don’t care about his sexual preferences. You are right, he does use gay people. Also, he desperately hits on 17-yr. old girls. He’s a jerk.
A woman can’t eat a big meal or be a bit bloated without being put on “bump watch” and two people of the same sex can’t be close friends without rumours of them being gay are reported. I can understand why some celebrities hate the tabloids and social media.
I would not want that constant attention on my private life or worrying about stepping out the door and a bad photo being taken of me
I don’t know if the fame and money is worth it.
+1
Agreed, but unfortunately this happens everywhere. Before I came out, people thought me and my roommate were lovers all the time just because we were both single and in our mid 20s. Yes, I was gay but am very straight acting (not meaning that I’m a rude way, just saying that I wasn’t obviously gay) and my roommate was and still is quite straight. He was very hurt by many friends treating us differently (both good ways and bad ways) just because everyone thought we were lovers. For some reason people think it’s ok to treat people differently once they learn about a possible difference in sexuality.
Agreed. And it’s completely normal to have roommates. I imagine celebrities in particular enjoy the closeness of a true friendship when they’re constantly surrounded by hangers-ons and “yes-men.”
ITA 100%
Totally agree.
I thought this was so shady from Gawker. I read the article yesterday and they had so much faux concern it was sickening. They were being bitchy and gossipy but instead of owning it they were trying to pass it off as some kind of human rights victory that they were standing up for Franco.
In the same vein as what Jezebel did with the whole Vogue/Lena Dunham issue. Which I also thought was gross.
Well, it’s a gossip site. It was NYT who “outed” Franco. Gawker has a history of taunting Franco.
NYT just commented on a super close friendship. Gawker implied more.
Franco has upset more than a few outlets and people. I think Gawker was looking for any opportunity to find a weak spot in Franco.
Pretty much the next time Gawker tries to defend someone’s privacy or sexuality it’ll bring a side eye.
Gawker wasn’t faking concern for Franco, they were laughing at the NYT for stuff like this: “They are now so close that describing them merely as friends would be a disservice.” I read the NYT article over the weekend and that line really was striking — oh, the NYT wants me to think these two men are romantically involved but they don’t want to come right out and say it. I was surprised Gawker didn’t write about it earlier because they pretty consistently tease the NYT about their (alleged double) standard for handling matters of sexuality. The NYT won’t call Tim Cook gay because he hasn’t announced it explicitly at a shareholder’s meeting but they’ll run innuendo filled articles about Aaron Schock’s Instagram. NYT is operating under its own set of grandma rules and Gawker operates under Denton’s rules (the basic one seems to be that the sex lives of public figures are all fair game).
I don’t disagree that the Vogue/Dunham thing was odd/mean, but I don’t think there was even a pretense of standing up for Franco in this case. I wonder if people would have different responses if they’d read the original NYT article in isolation, like I did. It really was an odd piece.
James Franco cares too much what the gossip press writes about him. As an “artiste” should he even be bothered with such lowly things?
All I could think of was that Scott Haze doesn’t mind living in a place where the sheets look unwashed for months. I don’t care about his sexuality. He handled the retort like a writer from Gawker, so douché-touché?
james franco is jamesfranco-sexual.
Who cares about this story from Gawker?? I was hoping for a post on John Travolta’s ex-boyfriend being allowed to write his “tell-all”….That is going to be one gossipy read!!!!!
What???? We’re gonna need more info on this, Mrs. Pitt!!
Ooh, that guy is gonna get hammered by the CoS.
I KNOW! i can’t wait. haha
So, every roommate situation is a sexual relationship? Are we back to living with our parents until marriage and only going out in public if chaperoned?
Oh, God, gay, bi, transgender, who the hell cares…well, far too many, so it appears. Why should it be a concern of anyone. It boggles my mind. We like to think that, in 2014, we as a species have evolved and are enlightened…far, far from it.
I find it so sad on so many levels that straight young boys, teens, and men are inhibited from forming close and emotionally rich and mutual rewarding bonds with other straight (or gay or bi) males. The result is there is a plethora of very lonely and emotionally starved males. Just take a look around you at the behavioural patterns of many straight males, and you’ll see what I mean.
The ongoing discrimination, ignorance and hatred directed towards the LGBT community infuriates me to no end. For the umpteenth time, they were BORN THIS WAY. The discrimination directed at these groups of valued human beings is no different from hating someone based on their skin colour/ethnic background. I am rather sick of it, and have ZERO patience for any bigoted comments I hear that are directed to the LGBT community.
If James and his close friend are roommates and enjoy each others company – good for them. It’s nobody’s bloody damn business.
This.
I don’t understand it either, it truly makes me very, very sad.
There’s this one guy at my place of work who thought it was totally acceptable to throw about homophobic slurs and was genuinely surprised when I mentioned he was being a colossal f*ckface.
I didn’t bother arguing with him. Just a whole pile of ‘NOPE’ there.
It’s particularly baffling because everyone likes to pretend that they’re tolerant and supportive of equal rights, especially the people who run blogs, gossip sites, newspapers, magazines, whatever.
When they speculate it always seems they’re implying it’s a slur to be gay and isn’t it funny that someone wouldn’t want the world to know. I don’t get it. If someone is speculating or cajoling, we should all ask them if they think they really are in the live and let live corner.
It goes without saying that I don’t think gays should push someone into coming out if they don’t want to or if they’re not ready.
Right, Franco is gay because he has a male roommate and hasn’t had a public girlfriend for a while.
You know, this shit happens in everyday life, no? And in everyday life it’s not the journo that makes assumptions, it’s your co-worker, the salesman, etc.
The only thing that protects one from this shit is getting married, to whomever, as long as it happens fast and the gossip stops. Because once the marriage is done, no one will care how that goes (unless there is an elevator scene).
You said it. Who cares if they’re getting it on? Or if they’re totally wasted in that second photo.
The one counterpoint I see is that… We definitely care about which straight celebrities are getting it on. Any time two attractive actors of opposite sex start spending time together, people start to ask/say: “Are they doing it? They’re probably doing it.”
Like, why does anyone care who Goop or KStew is dating?
The same-sex aspect makes it more sensitive because of homophobia and concerns about outing, certainly. But I think some people can legitimately speculate about it out of pure interest in general who-is-doing-who gossip.
…And this is officially the most thought I have ever put into a Janes Franco-related issue.
The same thing has been said about Jeremy Renner because he is unmarried and has a friend living at his home.
If it were me, I would ignore the dumb stuff. Publicly whining about it only brings attention and that is what the rumor mongers want………a reaction.
Can we talk about how child of god looks like the most misogynist film ever? Gawd, I saw a review yesterday that was all if you don’t get the brilliance of the book/movie, it’s because you’re not a genius. Well, whatever, I saw Perfume when it came out years ago (the one where a psycho murders women and turns their essence into bottled perfume, so he can hold onto all the “beauty” of a woman without any of the complications of dealing with the humanity of women). So, child of god is similar, right? A guy murders women to have sex with their corpses, again to enjoy their bodies without the complication of their humanity.
This isn’t a masterful concept, it’s an issue we deal with in pop culture daily, women depicted as vessels with no humanity.