Bijou Phillips has apologized for
harassing Daniel Franzese on the set of the film Bully.
Phillips and Franzese co-starred in the
2001 film.
In a Facebook post, Franzese (Mean
Girls, Looking) said that he was inspired to come forward by
Ellen Page's decision to call out director Brett Ratner for outing
her on the set of X Men: The Last Stand.
(Related: Ellen
Page accuses X Men director Brett Ratner of outing her at 18.)
“She kept loudly saying ‘Are you
gay?!’ and laughing? while ?the producers? ?and
photographer did nothing? ?to stop her,” Franzese
wrote.
“She continued to say ‘Are You
Gay?!’ Like 10 times making sure to be loud enough for everyone to
hear I reluctantly told her i was bi. Which at the time was how I was
choosing to? ?identify as ‘Q’ wasn’t known to be an option
yet and to be honest I don’t know that I had many gay experiences
at the time my life,” Franzese continued. “She cackled and?
said ’HA! He’s bi! And then when I showed up to work the next day
in front of the crew she was screaming ‘Oh look! The Bi guy is
here!’”
Franzese added that Phillips also
fat-shammed him.
“So I take my shirt off in the scene
and she breaks character and she pointed at my body and at the top of
her lungs yelled “Ewwww gross!!!” She laughed and pointed at me
and continued to berate me. they call cut and I had to walk off set
to collect myself,” Franzese wrote.
Phillips
told TMZ that she has privately apologized to Franzese.
“I was a teenager and reckless in my
behavior. I know Daniel to be a trustworthy and honest person, and to
find out through social media that I was not the friend I thought I
was to him made me so sad,” Phillips told TMZ.“I am so mortified
by this behavior and have contacted Daniel and apologized to him
privately. I am not and never have been homophobic. I have nothing
but love for the LGBTQ community and Daniel.”
Franzese said in a tweet that he
accepted Phillips' apology.