--- description: The actor said he "used bad judgement" in messaging a 17-year old Scottish girl on Instagram, but some think the awkward flap may be a bizarre publicity stunt for Franco’s upcoming movie about a soccer coach who has an affair with a teenage player title: James Franco: Skeezeball or Marketing Genius? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Living](/tag/time-section-living/) ## Living Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # James Franco: Horndog or Marketing Genius?  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Apr 4, 2014 6:03 PM CUT  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Apr 4, 2014 6:03 PM CUT James Franco was mighty quick to admit that the sketchy Instagram messages he sent to an teenage girl were actually real during his Friday appearance on _Live with Kelly and Michael._ “I used bad judgement and I learned my lesson,” said the _This is The End_ star. “But unfortunately in my position, I mean I have a very good life, but not only do I have to go through the embarassing rituals of meeting someone, sometimes if I do that then it gets published for the world, so it’s like doubly embarrassing.” That was easy. The awkward flap with a 17-year old Scottish schoolgirl broke just as the first trailer was released for Franco’s movie _Palo Alto_, in which the actor plays an adult soccer coach who has an affair with one of his teenage players… sound familiar? The movie is also based on a book of short stories Franco wrote. So is James Franco sketchy for hitting on a teenage girl through Instagram? Or is he sketchy for pretending to hit on a teenage girl in order to promote his new movie in which he plays a guy who hits on a teenage girl? Either way, it’s icky. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/50058/james-franco-instagram-stunt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/50058/james-franco-instagram-stunt/"},"headline":"James Franco: Horndog or Marketing Genius?","datePublished":"2014-04-04T18:03:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:06.307Z","description":"The actor said he \"used bad judgement\" in messaging a 17-year old Scottish girl on Instagram, but some think the awkward flap may be a bizarre publicity stunt for Franco’s upcoming movie about a soccer coach who has an affair with a teenage player","url":"https://time.com/50058/james-franco-instagram-stunt/","keywords":["Living","Teenagers","Dating","Sex","Media","entertainment","james franco","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/50058/james-franco-instagram-stunt/","name":"James Franco: Horndog or Marketing Genius?"}}]}] ```