AceShowbiz -

There's a word on the street that James Franco tried to hook up with a girl aged 17. A conversation allegedly happened between the 35-year-old actor and the Scottish girl privately but it has leaked online on Wednesday, April 2.

Franco reportedly met Lucy Clode, who was visiting New York, outside the ‎Longacre Theatre, where he's performing in "Of Mice and Men". She shared a photo of her with Franco in the background on Instagram and he allegedly asked her to tag him so that they could connect.

A screenshot of their conversation was posted on Imgur by an unknown source but it has since been removed. Franco apparently tried to convince Clode to meet him in a hotel room after she revealed that she was close to turning 18. The teen asked him to post a photo of himself and write her name so that she could be sure it was him.

Franco has responded to the report, tweeting an Instagram photo of himself with the words "Why are you thirsty for underage ones?" He followed it up with "I'm not! I hope parents keep their teens away from me! Thank you." The image has since been deleted but the tweet remained intact.

There's a speculation that this is nothing but a public stunt for Franco's new movie "Palo Alto". His character, a high school teacher, happens to have an affair with one of his teenage students.