James Franco has agreed to pay out approx $2.2M to settle a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct during his work as an acting coach. Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal were students of Franco's Studio 4 acting school, which has been closed since 2017. 
Tither-Kaplan and Gaal filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Franco in October 2019, claiming that he used Studio 4 to 'create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education.'
Initially, Franco and his legal team had called the accusations of sexual misconduct 'false and inflammatory.' Besides the monetary settlement, Franco agreed to a joint statement.
The statement says, 'While Defendants continue to deny the allegations in the Complaint, they acknowledge that Plaintiffs have raised important issues; and all parties strongly believe that now is a critical time to focus on addressing the mistreatment of women in Hollywood.'
'All agree on the need to ensure that no one in the entertainment industry — regardless of race, religion, disability, ethnicity, background, gender or sexual orientation — faces discrimination, harassment or prejudice of any kind,' it continued.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the proposed deal has been submitted to a Los Angeles judge for approval.
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