NYU Professor Says He was Fired for Giving James Franco a D

A former New York University professor is claiming that he was fired after giving Hollywood beau James Franco a D in one of his classes.

Jose Angel Santana claims in a lawsuit that NYU dismissed him after he gave the 127 Hours star a D for constantly blowing off class, according to the New York Post.

Santana claims that Franco blew off a lot of classes during his time as a student at NYU's Tisch Schools of the Arts, but that other professors gave him good grades, even if his work didn't deserve it.

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.

Franco, who has also starred in Pineapple Express and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, has been extremely active in academia. After graduating from UCLA, he has attended graduate school at Columbia University, NYU, and Brooklyn College.

He's currently a PhD student in English at Yale University and was recently admitted to the University of Houston's doctoral program for literature and creative writing.

I go to school because I love being around people who are interested in what I'm interested in and I'm having a great experience... I'm studying things that I love so it's not like it's a chore, he told the Washington Post.

That dedication to higher education would seemingly fly in the face of Santana's claims, but the former professors told the Post that the Academy Award nominated actor missed 12 out of 14 of his Directing the Actor II class.

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.

Santana is suing the university to get his former position back. Franco recently taught a course at NYU in adapting poetry into short films.