JAMES FRANCO won the best actor in a comedy award Thursday night at the Critics’ Choice Awards for his role in “The Disaster Artist,” but he wasn’t there to receive it.

The actor is in the midst of controversy after several women accused him of sexual misconduct in postings on social media.

Franco addressed the allegations on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” this week.

“I have my own side of this story, but I believe in these people that have been underrepresented getting their stories out enough that I will hold back things that I could say just because I believe in it that much,” he told Meyers.

Hours after his appearance Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times published a story in which five women who had worked with Franco alleged that they experienced inappropriate and sometimes sexually exploitative behavior by him.

Sarah Tither-Kaplan, Violet Paley, Hilary Dusome, Natalie Chmiel and Katie Ryan shared their allegations with the publication.

Dusome told the publication she took an acting class with Franco in 2012 at Playhouse West in North Hollywood, California.

She and fellow student Natalie Chmiel alleged that they experienced “an unprofessional and hostile shoot at a strip club,” while working on what they believed to be an art film or a commercial by Franco.

Dusome said, “I don’t think he started teaching with bad intentions, but he went down a bad path and damaged a lot of people in the process.”(SD-Agencies)