6 times James Franco has stirred the pot about his sexuality

James Franco: Actor, artist, and a lot of things in between, an event unto himself. Franco has managed to remain relevant for years largely by just being James Franco -- oh, and by frequently reiterating that he might, in fact, be gay. (The actor, who's starred in a variety of LGBT-themed projects including Milk and Howl, insists the press won't let go of that question. Often, though, it seems like Franco's the one who can't stop bringing it up.) 

In honor of the latest cover story in New York Magazine -- where, yes, Franco once again talks about how people keep talking about his sexuality -- we've rounded up the most notable times this has come up before.

April 2016

"There is a bit of overfocusing on my sexuality, both by the straight press and the gay press, and so the first question is why do they care?" Franco told New York Magazine this week. "Well, because I’m a celebrity, so I guess they care who I’m having sex with.

"But if your definition of gay and straight is who I sleep with, then I guess you could say I’m a gay cock tease. It’s where my allegiance lies, where my sensibilities lie, how I define myself. Yeah, I’m a little gay, and there’s a gay James."

March 2016

Franco told Rolling Stone that rumors about his sexuality function as a "shield."

"One of the nice things about speculation is that it's a smokescreen," he explained -- after discussing a late '00s rumor that speculated Franco may have assaulted a same-sex lover. (Franco responded in typical Franco fashion, posting "faux-paparazzi pictures on Instagram featuring him making out with some blurry-faced hunk" and "developing a film project with an artist friend, the working title of which was GR – for gay rapist," according to Rolling Stone.)

December 2015

The description for Franco's poetry book Gay James / Straight James went straight to the point, asking the question he has answered and non-answered so many times:

Straight James / Gay James, actor James Franco’s new chapbook of poems, explores the facets of his public and private personas. Straight James / Gay James is a poetic bildungsroman—raw, candid, and uninhibited. James Franco writes about life as an actor, sexuality, questions of identity, gender, family, Gucci, Lana Del Rey, James Dean, and Hollywood. His poetic style varies from the imagistic to the prosaic. The chapbook also contains an interview of “Gay James” conducted by “Straight James.” Yes, Straight James asks the question: “Let’s get substantial: are you f*cking gay or what?”

March 2015

Franco promoted his latest film projects by interviewing himself for FourTwoNine magazine – a talk between Gay James and Straight James. 

"I like to think that I’m gay in my art and straight in my life," said Gay James. "Although, I’m also gay in my life up to the point of intercourse, and then you could say I’m straight. So I guess it depends on how you define gay.

"If it means whom you have sex with, I guess I’m straight. In the twenties and thirties, they used to define homosexuality by how you acted and not by whom you slept with. Sailors would fuck guys all the time, but as long as they behaved in masculine ways, they weren’t considered gay."

January 2013

“In high school these girls got mad at me, and so they spread this rumor that I was having a gay relationship with one of my closest friends,” Franco told MTV News. At the time of the interview, Franco was promoting Interior. Leather Bar, a film about the gay S&M footage reportedly omitted from 1980's Cruising.

“It wasn’t like it was anything new,” Franco said of rumors about his sexuality while promoting the film at Sundance. “And in fact, it wasn’t something that frightened me. Like if people think that, it’s fine. I really don’t care.”

Spoiler: This interview also contains original poetry.

January 2011

“It’s funny because the way that kind of stuff is talked about on blogs is so black-and-white,” Franco told Entertainment Weekly. "It’s all cut-and-dry identity politics. ‘Is he straight or is he gay?’ Or, ‘This is your third gay movie – come out already!’

"I mean, I’ve played a gay man who’s living in the ’60s and ’70s, a gay man who we depicted in the ‘50s, and one being in the ‘20s," he added. "And those were all periods when to be gay, at least being gay in public, was much more difficult. Part of what I’m interested in is how these people who were living anti-normative lifestyles contended with opposition.

"Or, you know what, maybe I’m just gay.”