UPDATE: James Franco has yet to respond publicly to the claims from an ex-NYU professor who says he lost his job after giving the Hollywood star a "D" in an MFA class, but one of Franco's other professors has come to his defense.

Writing in an essay for Slate titled "What It’s Like To Be James Franco’s Professor," R. John Williams, one of Franco's English professors at Yale, says that he was shocked by such allegations and that the 127 Hours star rarely missed one of his discussions, even when filming in Detroit. Read it for yourself here.

Monday, Dec. 19: A former New York University professor says he was fired from his job for giving James Franco a "D" after the Hollywood star and advanced-degree hoarder blew off nearly a semester’s worth of classes.

The professor, Jose Angel Santana, has reportedly filed a lawsuit with the Manhattan Supreme Court to get his job back. He tells the New York Post that Franco skipped out on 12 of the 14 meetings of Santana’s class, and that the former Oscars host then responded to the sub-par grade by publicly ridiculing him. The rest of the department then followed suit, Santana alleges, firing him last year.

"The school has bent over backwards to create a Franco-friendly environment, that’s for sure," the 58-year-old Santana told the paper. "The university has done everything in its power to curry favor with James Franco."

Santana claims that Franco’s questionable attendance record extended to his other MFA classes at the New York City school as well, but that the rest of the department was more than happy to look the other way when it came to their high-profile student, thanks in large part to Franco’s decision to tap another one of his professors, Jay Anania, to write and direct the film William Vincent.

As would be expected, NYU is denying Santana's allegations. Here's the statement the university provided to NBC News: "We have not seen the lawsuit yet, but the claims we are seeing in the media are ridiculous. Beyond that, it is regrettable and disappointing to see a faculty member—former or otherwise—discuss any student's grade for the purpose of personal publicity."

If you’re wondering, the class in question was called "Directing the Actor II." We’ll let you take to Twitter or the comments section to have your fun with that …