James Franco caught hitting on 17-year-old fan: 'Should I rent a room?'

James Franco claims he was duped into hitting on a 17-year-old fan.

The 35-year-old actor has apologised for contacting Scottish student Lucy Corde via Instagram and trying to arrange to meet her in a New York City hotel after she caught his eye outside a theatre on Broadway.

The 'Of Men of Mice' star told 'Live! With Kelly and Michael' on Friday (04.04.14): "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."

He added: "You get a feel for them, you don't know who you're talking to. I used bad judgment and I learned my lesson."

Photos emerged of an exchange between the 'Spiderman' star and the teenager, who is holidaying in Manhattan with her mother, on Thursday (03.04.14), in which he asked her, "What's the hotel? Should I rent a room?"

James claims it was an honest mistake and added: "Unfortunately in my position, not only do I have to go through the embarrassing rituals of meeting someone, but if I do that, then it gets published for the world so it's doubly embarrassing."

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