--- title: James Franco Says Instagram Flap Was Real, But Was It All Marketing? 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 canonical: https://time.com/50058/james-franco-instagram-stunt/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-04T18:03:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:06.307Z og:title: James Franco: Skeezeball or Marketing Genius? og: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 og:url: https://time.com/50058/james-franco-instagram-stunt/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: James Franco: Skeezeball or Marketing Genius? twitter: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 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # James Franco: Horndog or Marketing Genius? > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Apr 4, 2014 6:03 PM UTC  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Apr 4, 2014 6:03 PM UTC 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? 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