James Franco in Catfight Over His 'Petty' Writing

Internet Fight Alert: James Franco is in a bit of a tiff with a New York Observer writer over his series of columns on the Huffington Post. Writer Drew Grant took issue with the fact that Franco addressed New Orleans ghost tours in his column, rather than something more substantive like politics. Franco responded in yesterday’s column, where he first slammed the Observer for being “a newspaper owned by Donald Trump's son-in-law that is perhaps best known for publishing a sex column in the mid-1990s.”

He goes on to explain that he didn’t discuss politics—specifically President Obama’s stance on gay marriage—because there’s “enough talk about that already,” and “plus, who wants to hear an actor’s take on it anyway?” He chose his topic because it seemed interesting, he concludes, and the real question is why “the great journalists at the New York Observer” are, “instead of covering pressing world issues, … covering my writing, which they claim to consider petty.” Click for his full column, which somehow segues into the topic of commencement speeches. (More James Franco stories.)