Hollywood actors Michael Douglas, James Franco say sexual misconduct allegations against them are false

Actor Michael Douglas has issued a pre-emptive denial of accusations that he committed a sex act in front of a female employee three decades ago.

“She claims that I masturbated in front of her,” the 73-year-old Oscar winner told Deadline magazine. “This is a complete lie, fabrication, no truth to it whatsoever.”

Douglas said he was issuing the denial after being told by his attorney that The Hollywood Reporter planned to publish a story about the allegations.

Another star, James Franco, denied meanwhile that he had engaged in sexual misconduct after accusations surfaced on social media.

“The things that I heard that were on Twitter are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice because they didn’t have a voice for so long,” Franco said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

“So, I don’t want to shut them down in any way. I think it’s a good thing and I support it,” Franco said.

Franco was referring to the sexual misconduct allegations brought about by the downfall of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Douglas, who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for Wall Street in 1988, said the woman, who was not identified, also alleged that he had used “colorful language” in front of her and “blackballed” her.

“She may have overheard private conversations, and if she was offended, she could have excused herself,” he said.

“As far as blackballing her, that was completely untrue.

“She was a lady who was involved in development at my company, and we just didn’t have a good development record in the time she was there, so I just moved on,” he said. “I never blackballed her.”