James Franco embarrassed by Instagram scandal

Hollywood actor James Franco has blamed "bad judgment" for his misguided attempt to court a teenage girl via Instagram.com and insisted he feels "embarrassed" by the incident.

The 127 Hours star hit headlines this week (beg31Mar14) after screenshots of an online conversation between him and 17-year-old Scottish schoolgirl Lucy Clode emerged online.

Franco met Clode following a performance on his Broadway play in New York City, and later contacted her through Instagram, asking for her phone number and bombarding her with her personal questions including whether she had a boyfriend.

The actor was quizzed about the exchange during an appearance on TV show Live! With Kelly and Michael on Friday (04Apr14), and he explained the dangers of Internet dating, saying, "I'm embarrassed, and I guess I'm just a model of how social media is tricky. It's the way that people meet each other today, but what I've learned - I guess because I'm new to it - is you don't know who's on the other end. You get a feel for them, you don't know who you're talking to. I used bad judgment and I learned my lesson. Unfortunately, in my position - I mean, I have a very good life, but not only do I have to go through the embarrassing kind of rituals of meeting someone, but if I do that, then it gets published for the world. So now, it's double embarrassing."