James Franco Flirts With a 17-Year-Old on Instagram

Apr 7, 2014

James Franco may be in a little bit of hot water with parents all over the nation after the news came out that the 35 year old megastar was trying to hook up with a 17 year old fan on Instagram. Lucy Clode is the fan, a young and pretty teenage tourist from Scotland, who happened to run into the ‘Pineapple Express’ star while touring New York. Clode recorded a short video of Franco with her phone and when Franco notices he asks her to ‘tag him’ on Instagram. Apparently she complied and James did a little reverse searching to find the fan and connect with her. What came next was just the right mix of old man creeping and ‘I’m embarrassed for you’ text flirtation.

The exchange started via Instagram messenger and quickly relocated to conventional text messaging. Franco was straight to the point in what he wanted out of the encounter. He opened up their exchange by demanding to know how old she was, where she was at, and if she was dating anyone. Clode didn’t try to hide anything and responded by saying she was 17, at the Marriot, and single, if Franco was around. The whole ordeal reeked of a man used to getting what he wanted and a young fan willing to please but it was simply not the case.

Clode proceeded to string Franco along until she could get proof that it was ‘really him’. James supplied a picture of himself holding a picture with her name on it. Franco immediately told her not to tell her friends about their conversation–which Clode promptly did. Clode took a screenshot of her chat, the picture of Franco, and put it on the internet. Within minutes the story went viral. While Franco did not do anything illegal, and Lucy very clearly was stringing him along, once the news broke James was quick to confront it. James sent a tweet telling parents to ‘Keep their daughters away’ and then later apologized for his actions.