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NYU professor fired after he gives James Franco a D

Thou shalt not give actors bad grades

NYU professor fired after he gives James Franco a D
Danielle de Wolfe
19 December 2011

It's not particularly difficult to be jealous of that damn James Franco.

With his stupidly handsome face, his ascending career as pretty much anything he wants and his general cool aura, he's not short of haters.

Add a certain José Angel Santana to that list, who taught one of Franco's modules at NYU last year. Oh yes, Oscar-nominee Franco attends NYU as well...

But his good luck came to an end when Santana gave him a D for the 'Directing the Actor II' class. To be fair, his reasoning was valid. Franco only attended 2 of the 14 sessions. Santans then claims that NYU fired him because of this and he's now suing them.

Santana claims that the university has fostered a "Franco-friendly environment" and other professors gave him good grades as they've profited from knowing Franco. One of them wrote and directed a film which Franco starred in while the department chairman also had a cameo role.

“In my opinion, they’ve turned the NYU graduate film degree into swag for James Franco’s purposes, a possession, something you can buy,” Santana said.

The case continues.

[via NY Post]

(Image: Rex Features)