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Who is Charlyne Yi? Actress says she quit James Franco's 'The Disaster Artist' after his sex abuse scandal

The actress took to Instagram to talk about her ordeal and how Franco's behavior has been enabled time and again. She named Seth Rogen as one of his enablers

In light of Sexual Assualt Awareness Month, actress Charlyne Yi took to Instagram to call out actor James Franco and explaining why she quit 'The Disaster Artist,' the 2017 biographical comedy-drama starring and directed by Franco. Shortly after the movie released, five women spoke up about Franco's sexually inappropriate behavior toward them. 

The women who accused him of the same were a part of Studio 4, the film school started by the actor that was later shut down. Yi, who was originally a part of 'The Disaster Artist,' alongside a star-cast consisting of Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Ari Graynor, Josh Hutcherson, Jacki Weaver, and Seth Rogen, has not only called out James but brought to light his enablers as well. 

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Who is Charlyne Yi?

Born Charlyne Amanda Yi, she was born on January 4, 1986. Yi grew up in Fontana, California. In high school, Yi was actively involved in theatre. She later attended the University of California, Riverside. However, she left to pursue a full-time comedy career.

Yi has had an illustrious career over the years, seeing that she is a screenwriter, actor, comedian and artist as well. Her performance style is big on crowd participation and is known to have elements of music, magic and games. She won a Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, for her screenwriting debut work -- 'Paper Heart'. 
With regard to her movie career, Yi has starred in movies such as 'Knocked Up', 'This is 40', 'We Bare Bears', 'The Lego Ninjago Movie', 'Steven Universe: The Movie', ' Trolls World Tour' and more. She's also starred in multiple hit TV series, such as '30 Rock', 'House', 'Twin Peaks', 'Jane the Virgin' and 'Lucifer', among others.

She has also published two books -- 'Oh the Moon' and 'You Can't Kill Me Twice (So Please Treat Me Right),' the latter being a collection of her poetry. Yi explained her transition from comedy to poetry in an interview with UPI. "My comedy all of a sudden became unfunny, and then I started using that material at poetry venues," Yi explained. "And then the platform changed. I became a funny poet instead of a sad comedian." She added. 

The actress, who took out a restraining order against her parents on account of abuse, opened up about the darker details of her life. "I realized so much of my life was repressed because of the conditions I lived under, regarding my abusive parents," she explained. "I realized it's really scary to be honest about what's going on, but I also realized so much of my life had been having to keep secrets and having to protect others over myself, which I'm still recalibrating from" she added. 

What did Yi have to say about Franco's behavior?

Amidst the sexual allegations that came to light regarding Franco's behavior, Yi tried to break a legal contract, seeing that she didn't feel safe working with the actor. However, as opposed to addressing the issue, the actress maintains that she was bribed with a larger role instead. She specifically called out Seth Rogen, who was a producer on the film, seeing that her concerns fell upon deaf ears. In the Instagram post, she explained her ordeal.

The caption reads: "Seth Rogen was one of the producers on this film so he definitely knows about the bribe and why I quit. Seth also did a sketch on SNL with Franco enabling Franco preying on children. Right after Franco was caught. Franco has a long history of preying on children. This is on top all the corrupt laws that protect predators made by violent white men. Denying/gaslighting is a tactic that abusers and enablers use that is psychological violence, & has serious affects: the survivor loses sense of reality/intuition to protect self from targeted again, PTSD, suicidal thoughts/suicide, etc 

This month is Sexual Assault Awareness Month when it should really be something men educate themselves about their whole life and learn how to be there & protect women, nonbinary, trans, etc—who are targeted."

Twitter users came out in support of the actress as well. "Charlyne Yi Calls Out Seth Rogen for Enabling James Franco's Predatory Behavior" Tweeted a user. "I’ve loved Seth Rogen for a long time, but I can’t pretend that his association with known abuser James Franco is harmful. Charlyne Yi has been talking about this for some time now and nobody seems to care," added another.

"Remember when james franco tried to get that underaged girl to come to his hotel room and she leaked the dms? it still kills me that he tried to say it was palo alto press" tweeted a user, pointing out that the allegations against the actor run deep. 

These remarks were made by the Internet and individual organizations, MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.