People say Franco is completely insensitive

The reappearance of the American actor after almost two years of silence caused annoyance among his haters. "In addition to being blind to power dynamics, Franco is completely insensitive and apparently still doesn't care about the immense pain and suffering he put his victims through," they said.

Days after reappearing publicly in his first interview in nearly two years, lawyers for the plaintiffs of James Franco, accused of sexual harassment and abuse, criticized the actor's statements in which he admitted to suffering from a "sex addiction."

In a written statement, representatives of actresses Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal said the actor was "blinded about his power dynamics," and that acknowledging that he had sex with his students was "completely insensitive."

"It's incredible that even after accepting a settlement, he continues to downplay the survivors' experiences and ignore their grief, despite acknowledging that he didn't have to start such a school in the first place," they said in relation to the $2.2 million settlement between the actresses and Franco.

"In addition to being blind to power dynamics, Franco is completely insensitive and apparently still doesn't care about the immense pain and suffering he put his victims through with this farce of his acting school," they added.

At the time, the actor responded to the accusations of his former students by claiming that they were ” starved for attention. ” Franco opened his theater school, Studio 4, in Los Angeles in 2014 and closed its doors in 2017 following complaints against him.

"(His behavior) was not a misunderstanding about the name of a course, it was not the result of his overwork; it was, and is, despicable conduct... No one should confuse this interview with Franco taking responsibility for his actions or expressing remorse for what happened," they said.

In the lawyers' view, it was a mere pre-Christmas communication strategy to "circumvent real issues just before a major holiday in the hope of not facing any scrutiny (about their conduct)."

On social media, Tither and Kaplan added, "Acting as a platform for abusers while excluding survivors causes even more harm. The blacklisting of survivors remains a very real problem."

Speaking to The Jess Cagle, Franco confessed: "I slept with students and that was wrong. It should never have happened... I guess at the time, my thought was that if it was consensual, it was fine."

On the silence he kept all this time, he recalled: "In 2018, there were complaints about me, and at that time I thought I had to stay quiet. I had to pause. It didn't seem like the right time to say anything. There were people who were upset with me and needed to listen."

In the last 5 years, according to Franco, he has dedicated himself to treating his addition to sex: "It's such a powerful drug... I could never be faithful to anyone," Isabel Pakzad's current partner acknowledged.

Franco said he was “blind to people’s feelings.” “I have been working a lot. I was recovering from substance abuse. And there were some issues that I had to deal with that were also related to addiction. I have used my experience to change who I was, ” added the actor.