A fired NYU acting professor is blaming his dismissal on James Franco, arguing in a recent lawsuit that the university was kissing up to their star pupil by firing the teacher who gave him a D. Yeah, either that or this “professor” simply demonstrated his own incompetence by failing to grasp the meta-textual hypersubtleties inherent to a

José Angel Santana said he slapped the “127 Hours’’ star with the bad grade because he missed 12 of his 14 “Directing the Actor II” classes while pursuing a master’s in fine arts [at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts].
Santana said he then suffered all kinds of drama — first from Franco, who publicly ridiculed him [video of that below], then from his department, which axed him over the “D.”
“The school has bent over backwards to create a Franco-friendly environment, that’s for sure,” Santana, 58, told The Post. “The university has done everything in its power to curry favor with James Franco.”

After his student gig, Franco, 33, wound up teaching an NYU course this past fall on adapting poetry into short films.
Santana suggested that the good grades Franco received were payback to the actor for hiring one of his other professors, Jay Anania.
Franco hired Anania to write and direct the film “William Vincent,” which starred Franco, the suit states. The film was featured at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.
“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.

As opposed to something that costs 40 grand a year and is mostly worthless, I guess. Not that I would know anything about that, of course… (*hides creative writing MFA from Columbia under screeners from porn companies*)

Santana also blasted the graduate film department chairman, John Tintori, for allegedly creating a conflict of interest when he appeared in a cameo in a film financed by Franco and written and directed by Anania, the court records reveal. [NYPost]

At least, that’s the Franco-related part of the suit. The other part alleges racial discrimination, being paid less than his peers, and having to use a broom closet as an office. Jeez, who could’ve ever guessed academia would be so political, huh?? But whether it’s a case of true discrimination or just sour grapes, it’s always sad to see the Tisch School of the Arts lose a good drama professor. WHO WILL TEACH STANISLAVSKY TO THE REBELLIOUS DAUGHTERS OF HEDGE-FUND MANAGERS, WHO???