James Franco's Palo Alto school mural painted over amid sexual misconduct allegations

Matt Keller Image
ByMatt Keller KGO logo
Thursday, February 1, 2018
James Franco's Palo Alto school mural painted over amid sexual misconduct allegations
Palo Alto High School officials said they decided to paint over celebrity James Franco's mural saying the artwork was intended to be temporary and would be respectfully returned at some point.

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- A Hollywood superstar is finding part of his legacy at his Bay Area alma mater is being erased in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. Actor James Franco, painted a mural on the Palo Alto High School campus back in 2014.

According to the school newspaper, "The Paly Voice," Palo Alto High School principal, Kim Diorio, decided to have workers paint over it on the school's Student Center earlier this week.

She says the future of Franco's paintings inside the Media Arts Center will be left up to that community.

RELATED: 5 women reportedly accuse James Franco of sexual misconduct

Palo Alto Unified School District Interim Superintendent Karen Hendricks released a statement saying, "Paly graduate James Franco donated multiple pieces of artwork and two murals to the Palo Alto High School campus. The school site and district appreciated his donation, acknowledging that the artwork was intended to be temporary in nature and would be respectfully returned or painted over at some point. One mural was removed in 2016, and artwork in the library was taken down this summer during a renovation process. District staff recently considered the best interests of our students in the light of our educational mission, and decided to remove and return the remaining artwork. The second mural was taken down last week; our Latinos Unidos group is working with the Paly ASB and VAPA Department around the concept for a new mural to be painted. Their idea was to celebrate the rich cultural backgrounds and diversity on our campus.We are excited that they came up with this idea, and look forward to helping them with the project. Remaining Franco artwork in our Media Arts Center are also now being transitioned as we work with students on their concepts of visual arts on campus to update and provide opportunities for other artistic pieces."

This comes after sexual misconduct allegations against the actor. Franco has publicly said the claims are "not accurate."

RELATED: Actor James Franco denies sexual misconduct allegations

Franco graduated from Palo Alto High school in 1996.

He's come back several times to speak and also taught a film class in 2015.

Click here for more stories on sexual misconduct.