her in a hotel room after she told him she was seventeen. He sent multiple pictures of himself to prove his real identity. Franco admitted on Live! With Kelly and Michael that he had written the messages. Though his actions were legal, given the age of consent in New York is seventeen, he was the subject of media backlash due to the wide age gap. He initially responded to the scandal by tweeting, "I HOPE PARENTS KEEP THEIR TEENS AWAY FROM ME. Thank you." He later stated he was "embarrassed" and that "I learned my lesson." At the 2018 Golden Globe Awards, Franco wore a Time's Up pin in solidarity with the MeToo movement, to protest sexual harassment against women. His pin drew criticism on social media from actress Ally Sheedy, who hinted she had quit acting after working with Franco on a play. A former girlfriend, Violet Paley, also alleged that he once forced her to give him oral sex in a car while they were dating. On January 9, 2018, The New York Times, citing the allegations, canceled a planned event with Franco. On January 10, Franco said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that the accusations made against him on Twitter were "not accurate". On January 11, 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that five women were accusing Franco of inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior during the period when Franco was serving as their acting teacher or mentor. One former student stated that Franco "would always make everybody think there were possible roles on the table if we were to perform sexual acts or take off our shirts" in his projects. Another alleged that Franco held a sex scenes class and removed students' vaginal guards while simulating oral sex with them. Franco's attorney, Michael Plonsker, disputed the allegations. In her 2018 memoir, Busy Philipps puts forth an account in which Franco screamed at her before violently shoving her to the ground while on the set of Freaks and Geeks. On October 3, 2019, two former students of Franco's now-closed film and acting school, Studio 4, filed a lawsuit against him and his partners. According to The New York Times, the complaint alleged that the program "was little more than a scheme to provide him and his male collaborators with a pool of young female performers that they could take advantage of." The case claimed that pupils