Thread by @AmyKinLA

THREAD: In a new Rolling Stone interview, David Simon attacks the LA Times' 2018 story on James Franco by insinuating we reported the story on the actor because we were aware "that the lion’s share of the real, aggressive, meaningful reporting on this stuff..."

"...had been done by The New Yorker and The New York Times. They were the ones who were delivering real, solid, fundamental journalism, about real offenders who were using their positions to obtain sex, and misusing women in that fundamental way."

So is Simon saying that the 2017 stories the paper did on James Toback, Brett Ratner and Russell Simmons prior to the one on Franco were not "real," "aggressive," or about "real offenders?"

Further, Simon says that the reason he continued to work with Franco on "The Deuce" was because the actor "didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone," unlike Weinstein or Moonves. He says this is "the fundamental dynamic that makes #MeToo and #TimesUp so important."

In our story, one woman alleged Franco removed protective plastic guards covering actresses’ vaginas while simulating oral sex on them in a nude orgy scene. Two other women claimed he got angry on-set when they refused to go topless in one of his projects. He denied these claims.

These women did not allege he used his position to have sex with them. They alleged he used his position to put them in situations involving their naked bodies that they felt were inappropriate. But per Simon, this is not the dynamic that "makes #MeToo and #TimesUp so important."

This is Simon's interview: rollingstone.com/tv/tv-features…

This is our story on Franco: latimes.com/business/holly…