James Franco is fessing up. The actor apologized for trying to pick up a teenage girl via Instagram earlier this week during an appearance on Live! With Kelly and Michael on Friday, April 4.
"I was feeling awkward — I didn't want to come on the show and just feel awkward," Franco, 35, said to Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan. "I'm embarrassed, and I guess I'm just a model of how social media is tricky. It's the way that people meet each other today, but what I've learned — I guess because I'm new to it — is you don't know who's on the other end."
"You get a feel for them, you don't know who you're talking to," he continued. "I used bad judgment and I learned my lesson."
On April 3, photos surfaced of an exchange between Franco and 17-year-old Scottish fan Lucy Corde. "What's the hotel? Should I rent a room?" Franco asked the underaged girl. When Corde replied that his comment could have been part of an April Fool's joke, Franco then sent a selfie confirming that it was really him.
"Unfortunately in my position, not only do I have to go through the embarrassing rituals of meeting someone, but if I do that, then it gets published for the world so it's doubly embarrassing," Franco added to the Live! co-hosts.
Franco clearly looked uncomfortable discussing the situation, but in true Ripa form, she jumped in to lighten the mood. "I promise I will not reveal our text messages," she quipped.
