James Franco’s Very Bad January Continues With An Oscar Snub

James Franco can’t be having the best morning. Despite his film The Disaster Artist earning a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, Franco was left out of the Best Actor field at this morning’s Oscar nominations, where he had been widely assumed to be one of the top contenders. After a SAG nomination and a Golden Globe win, Franco’s case was solid. Instead, Oscar nods went to Timothée Chalamet, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Kaluuya, Gary Oldman, and Denzel Washington.

So what changed for awards voters between the SAG noms and now? There’s a chance that sexual misconduct allegations, as published in the Los Angeles Times on January 11th could have played a part. That was while there were still two days left in the Oscar voting window, and while most Oscar watchers assumed that it was too late to do anything about vote totals, there’s at least a possibility that it did.

In the Times article, five women accused Franco of “inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior,” much of it stemming from his position as a film director and/or acting school proprietor. While not reaching the depths of the Harvey Weinstein accusations, which included violent rape, the Times article painted Franco as a decidedly scummy guy who used his position of authority to coerce women into sex acts, cast acting students in myriad topless roles, and on one occasion remove a plastic guard from atop an actress’s genitals before simulating oral sex on her for a scene.

Franco won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy for his role as Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist, which Franco also directed. The film — and his performance — were a triumph, but his Globe victory (and his “Times Up” pin) brought several women out on Twitter to talk about his bad behavior.

At the Women’s March in Los Angeles over the weekend, actress Scarlett Johansson alluded to Franco in her comments.

“My mind baffles: How could a person publicly stand by an organization that helps to provide support for victims of sexual assault while privately preying on people who have no power?” she asked before adding, “I want my pin back, by the way.”

Johansson’s representative confirmed that the remark was referring to Franco. If Johansson’s feelings were in any way indicative of the feelings of those in the Academy, Franco’s snub might not be much of a surprise at all.