I am very sad to learn that Oscar winning director and writer Paul Haggis has resigned from the important charity he started, Artists for Peace and Justice.

Paul, who won two Oscars for “Crash” and was nominated for writing “Million Dollar Baby,” literally willed APJ into existence before the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake. Prior to the quake he’d already been raising money and enlisting celebrity friends to help one of the poorest nations in the world. But once the quake hit, Haggis went into overdrive. He’s raised millions of dollars for rebuilding, for education, etc. In the last couple of years he’s even joined forces with Sean Penn and his Haiti charity to make a difference in the impoverished country.

Now because of accusations of sexual misconduct that are unfounded and unproven, Haggis has stepped away from APJ. This is tragic.  His first accuser apparently demanded $9 million to keep quiet, so Haggis went to the US Attorney because he was being extorted. The follow up accusers haven’t asked for anything nor made actual accusations– they’ve just waved the magic wand of social media to brand Haggis.

The accusers– particularly the secondary ones– could easily be attached to Scientology. Haggis, a former member of the cult religion, broke free a few years ago and has been a constant public critic of the notoriously vengeful group. Haggis was the main source for Lawrence Wright’s book “Going Clear” and the documentary of the same name by Alex Gibney. It’s not out of the question that Scientology has plotted against him.

Haggis has a lot of lady friends, including his ex wife, who are steadfastly behind him. Unlike some other recent alleged misconducters, Haggis is not the guy who everyone said, “Oh yeah, sure.” Quite the contrary. Something is wrong here the shame of it is that before it’s straightened out a lot of damage will be done– not only to Haggis but to the people of Haiti who depend on his dedication and unwavering loyalty.

Wednesday night’s live Times Talk with “Disaster Artist” star and director James Franco and his brother, actor Dave Franco, has been cancelled.

Franco just won a Golden Globe Award for playing off beat real life loser filmmaker Tommy Wiseau. On the Globes broadcast he brought Wiseau up on stage but then cut him off from speaking. That didn’t win him any new fans. I thought it was unsuual for Franco, who is usually very generous to other actors. But maybe he knew best in that situation.

Still, there have been rumors for weeks that Franco was going to be caught up in the recent tsunami of accusations against actors regarding sexual conduct. And sure enough, on Twitter during the Globes, actress Ally Sheedy Tweeted her surprise that Franco was being rewarded with a statue given his history. She deleted it, but enough people captured the comment to make noise.

And then within minutes another actress, Violet Paley, Tweeted “Cute #TIMESUP pin James Franco. Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17? After you had already been caught doing that to a different 17 year old?”

True or not, Paley’s Tweet instigated an avalanche of accusations. Now the Times Talk has been cancelled– a mistake, I fear, because it sends a signal of guilt. Of course, Franco does have one– just one– episode in his recent past in which he wound up texting an underage girl. He explained it by saying he obviously didn’t understand how old she was.

Unlike a lot of the alleged sexual predators of recent note, James Franco comes from a close knit, solid nuclear family. I actually knew his grandmother. His late father was a lovely guy who died much too young and suddenly from a widowmaker heart attack. His mother is a writer and very cool. So all of this seems hard to believe, and I guess we’ll have to see how it all plays out. It would be a real shame if a very good career was tarnished here for no reason.

There is no one more fun, or slyly smarter than Paris Hilton. I’ve known her and her family– dad Rick, mom Kathy, superstar sister Nicky– a long time. So it was a real treat on Sunday night after all the Golden Globe parties to run into Kathy, Paris, and Paris’s fiancee Chris Zylka at where else?– the Beverly Hilton– as I was coming and they were going home.

They were accompanied by a few friends including the great rock and roll PR man Elliott Mintz, who is the premier John Lennon exit, is ever faithful to the legendary Yoko One, and once repped both Bob Dylan and Diana Ross.

Kathy looks sensational and she is now a grandmother to Nicky’s two children. I know Kathy’s sisters are famous to reality show fans, but this grandma is the leader of the pack– very funny and full of adventure. Of course, she’s helping Paris plan her wedding to Zylka, who will star this year opposite Jessica Chastain and Kit Harrington in Xavier Dolan’s “The Life and Death of John Donovan.”

Paris and Chris are in love. Look at the pictures I snapped at 1am. “We haven’t been apart yet for more than three  hours at a time,” Paris declared. She is radiant.

So when is the wedding? “This year,”she said. “And I swear, we will have baby by the end of the year. I’m ready!”

She’s also got a named picked out. “The first one will be called London,” she said. “Boy or girl.” What if she has twins? “If it’s a girl we’ll call her…Paris!”

And what was on the agenda for Monday? “I’m flying to Chicago to close a major deal,” she said. “People think I’m an airhead, but I’ve got [dozens of lines] of jewelry and perfume.” She laughed. “They don’t know what to do.”

So hold on: 2018 is the year of Paris Hilton. And that will be fun!

photos c2018 Showbiz411

It was a most unusual Golden Globes ceremony. The Hollywood Foreign Press is struggling to mature and be respected. Now at last thanks to Oprah Winfrey they achieved a modicum of respect. When Oprah spoke, the room fell silent. Michelle Williams’ guest for the evening, Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, literally burst into sobs. Williams and actress America Ferrara comforted her while Oprah continued. Laura Dern rushed over to help.

What I thought made the Globes look even better was this: Best Foreign Film went not to Angelina Jolie for her very good “First They Killed My Father” but to the German film “In the Fade” starring Diane Kruger. In the old days the HFPA would made sure a celebrity of Jolie’s stature would go home with a statue. This was quite a turnabout. The HFPA still has some old kooky members hanging around (it’s like after a dictatorship has fallen– some members still think HFPA means KGB). But leaps were made Sunday night.

Meantime, people met each other for the first time. Old friends celebrated. At the “Will and Grace” table, the whole cast raised glasses and clinked each time the show lost. At the “Stranger Things” table, Millie Bobby Brown– who’s become a beautiful young teen– clowned around with cast mate David Harbour after she lost, getting him to take pictures of her with a short stemmed rose in her mouth, very “Carmen.”

Allison Janney, looking dazed, accepted kudos as she made her way to the ladies’ room. Janney beat Laurie Metcalf for Best Supporting Actress in a comedy. There’s an irony there– Janney was  denied a Tony nomination last spring for her Broadway debut in “Six Degrees of Separation.” The winner last spring was Laurie Metcalf, for “A Doll’s House Pt. 2.” Now they will go up against each other for the Oscar. Stay tuned…

Nick Jonas and brother Joe Jonas had a jolly time. Once he lost, “Get Out” star Daniel Kaluuya looked like a huge weight was off him. “Now I’m having fun!” he declared. Justin Timberlake  and Jessica Biel were having  a ball. I told Justin I’d taken his instructions seriously about playing his new singe “Filthy” loud. “Right?” he said. “It sounds great loud!”

Later the parties took off like crazy. HBO celebrated big wins for “Big Little Lies” with Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon. At the Fox party, Best Actress in a Drama winner Elisabeth Moss pulled her cast out onto a landing to grab a cigarette. It was a big win for Moss. “I never won for playing Peggy [on Mad Men].” She didn’t win an Emmy for Peggy, either. She deserves it (and really, this is one Scientologist who I don’t get into it with– she’s never proselytizing and we don’t discuss it). She introduced me to her posse of terrific ladies.  Then the one time Peggy Olson said, “Come on, let’s get in there dance!”

And dancing is exactly what was happening at the chic Netflix party at the fancy shmancy new Waldorf Astoria, just built next to the Beverly Hilton. Up on the top floor, none other than Drake decided to deejay for a couple of hours. The place went wild. The room we were in was all red. Live arms stuck out of a curtained wall offering Champagne flutes and desserts from white gloved hands. They  were still going strong at 2 am.

photo c2018 Showbiz411