James Franco’s Former Acting Teacher Suing NYU: It Started Here
Well, this is out of left field. A little over a year ago, we did a video (shot by our trusty videographer Chris Barrett) interview with Oscar nominee James Franco. Remember? He told us he got a D in acting class at New York University as part of his grad program. The video is below in the video player. Now the acting teacher, Jose Angel Santana, is suing NYU. He says they fired him because he gave Franco the D. He’s represented by young labor lawyer Matthew Blit, who’s also represented strippers who felt their rights were being violated. Monday, Monday! Blit has never contacted this column. But Santana doesn’t deny he gave the bad grade. But we have no idea yet why NYU got rid of Blit–it’s just his claim. NYU will surely file a counterclaim.
The New York Post says Santana and Blit are claiming Franco was an absentee student. But Franco was shooting “127 Hours” during that semester. He had to cut off his own arm! Isn’t that considered Life Experience? And Franc-ly (to employ a Post-like pun) the Oscar nominee has been incredibly popular with his fellow students at NYU, where acting class was a small part of his Masters program in filmmaking.
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UPDATE Matthew Blit has sent over the complaint. It has less to do with Franco than with Santana’s accusations of racial discrimination. He also says that another professor, Jay Anania, also the brother of the late Elizabeth Edwards, had it in for him. Anania wound up working with Franco as a director on a film project. But Santana’s biggest complaint is that he was paid less than other teachers and stuck in an office that used to be a broom closet.
Franco stated (factually) that he received a failing grade. The professor acknowledged the he gave said grade. Am I missing the part where he should be sued for deformation of character?
[…] The ubiquitous D grade, which has dogged Franco for more than a year, is not disputed by the star. In fact, celebrity website Showbiz411 interviewed the actor who freely admitted he got the D. […]
On average a class semester is about 16 weeks. This course was comprised of 14 classes. Essentially one class per week. Franco attended 2 out of 14 classes. I don’t know if attendance accounted for any part of the grade, but if so any “regular” student had missed 80% of their classes they would have received a failing grade.
[…] missed 12 out of 14 classes in his quest for a master’s degree in fine arts.In the complaint, which Roger Friedman at Hollywood411 claims to have, Santana blames racial discrimination as a major reason for being fired, and states that […]