Los Angeles - Remember when we reported on James Franco's sneaky late night chat with an underage girl on Instagram? (See all the pics here).
Well, turns out it wasn't a publicity stunt for his latest film.
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: "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 Spider-Man star and the teenager, who is holidaying in Manhattan with her mother, on Thursday, 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."