'King Cobra' Director Defends James Franco: He's Not Gay-Baiting

The director of the upcoming gay porn drama "King Cobra" is defending his star James Franco and is speaking out about the actor's relationship with the gay community, Pink News reports.

Franco recently raised eyebrows and received criticism after an interview with New York magazine, where he said he is "a little gay." Justin Kelly, the director of "King Cobra," which debuted at Tribeca Film Festival last week to great reviews, is acknowledging the controversy surrounding the actor.

Kelly told the Daily Beast he "heard the conversation from within the gay community, which was typically very negative and skeptical. That he's taking roles from gay actors, or what have you."

"But at this point I find myself being very defensive," he said. "Because honestly what he's doing is more progressive and far more helpful to the gay community than-I'm going to put my foot in my mouth so I'm going to stop there."

"For an actor of his caliber to say that he picks roles based on character and story, and sexuality is secondary, is a good thing. It's wildly progressive," Kelly told Daily Beast. "The whole point of what I feel like the gay community's goal [is], to be quote-unquote 'normal', is having actors do what he does."

He added: "Even people will question his sexuality because he plays gay, it's backwards to me. Why are you assuming that he's gay because he keeps playing gay characters? And does that mean that gay actors can't play straight characters? It goes both ways."

According to IMDb, "King Cobra," which also stars Christian Slater, Molly Ringwald, Alicia Silverstone, Garrett Clayton and Keegan Allen, is a "ripped-from-the-headlines drama that covers the early rise of gay porn headliner Sean Paul Lockhart a.k.a. Brent Corrigan, before his falling out with the producer who made him famous. When Sean decides he'd be better off a free agent, a cash-strapped pair of rival producers aim to cash in by any means possible."