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Posted: 2018-01-23T14:52:55Z | Updated: 2018-01-23T17:41:41Z

James Franco has held many titles during his tenure in Hollywood: movie star, director, heartthrob, grad student, acting teacher, short story writer, poet, indie musician, Oscar host, naked wrestler, media glutton, Times Up pin-wearer.

But the multihyphenates accomplishments surged this month when five women said he attempted to coerce them into unwanted sexual encounters or on-set nudity. It seems those allegations jeopardized the Academy Award nod Franco was expected to receive for his performance in The Disaster Artist. In lieu of two-time Oscar nominee, he can add alleged harasser to his rsum.

His snub is a small victory for the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, which hope to eradicate the glorification of abusers in Hollywood and out. Its also a crucial moment in Francos career a potential death knell for a performer whos long used sex to define his persona.

Franco has been turning his sexuality into performance art for years. Most notably, he played gay characters and then suggested he himself might be gay, saying things like, Maybe Im just gay , I guess you could say Im a gay cock tease , and I like to think that Im gay in my art and straight in my life . In some corners, this supposed fluidity was celebrated; here was an A-list, award-worthy actor unashamed of how his sexual orientation was perceived, despite belonging to an industry that values traditional masculinity and heteronormativity. Read generously, Francos persona was a social critique.

But if he was shoving womens heads toward his crotch in moving cars and removing plastic guards covering their vaginas during filmed sex scenes, as has been alleged, then Francos queerbaiting assumes a new dimension. It was chicanery. Franco painted himself as a progressive when, according to various accounts, he was a predator.

Franco has denied the allegations against him, which surfaced on Twitter after his Golden Globe win for The Disaster Artist, but said he support[s] people coming out and being able to have a voice. That, too, would seem duplicitous. The accuser who lodged the aforementioned car allegation said Franco called her and a few other girls mere weeks ago to offer an annoyed apology, which would be tantamount to a private admission of guilt.

Nonetheless, Franco remained a key player in the ongoing awards season. Oscar ballots opened six days before The Los Angeles Times published its report detailing the five womens accusations long enough to leave some Academy members regretting their vote in his favor. (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has no morality clause in the bylaws that govern its voting process.)

At the March 4 Oscars ceremony, Timothe Chalamet, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Kaluuya, Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington will instead compete for the Best Actor statue. Its a career-defining moment for any performer, but a potentially career-busting one for Franco.