Earlier this week we brought you damning evidence that the new Seth Rogen comedy Pineapple Express may have engaged in the shocking, unauthorized theft of a t-shirt design from a small Brooklyn company called WOWCH. The scandal now threatens to swamp the movie's marketing efforts like a tidal wave of justice. James Franco, the shifty long-haired actor who was the wearer of the shirt in question, took a brief break from seducing swooning women in order to stammer a denial of the crime's very existence:

"What? That's ridiculous," Franco exclaimed. "We completely created that shirt and that shark. [Director] David [Gordon Green, who they say came up with the shirt design himself] wanted me to wear a purple Monterey Bay T-shirt with a whale on it. I said I wasn't into the whale shirt, so he came up with his own design, which was the shark."

Franco was then swarmed by a crowd of women demanding to have sex with him (seriously, read the story). Does he really like sex? Or is he simply looking for a convenient way to slither away from the hard questions about his shark-and-kitten shirt? The truth will emerge, Franco. The truth will emerge.

[NYDN]