Why The Director Of Spring Breakers Was Banned From David Letterman's Late Show

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Harmony Korine met photographer Larry Clark while he was still a teenage skater bumming about Greenwich Village in New York. Clark and Korine began talking, and Clark revealed that he wanted a screenplay, written with an authentic point of view, all about modern, largely unsupervised teens and the way they wrestle with the AIDS crisis. Korine was happy to participate, and wrote the screenplay for the highly controversial "Kids," released in 1995. "Kids" was dark and edgy at the time, as it was incredibly frank about the sex lives of high school students. Even today, opinions on the film are mixed. 

Korine, however, instantly became a new Enfant Terrible in the indie cinema world, and made his directorial debut in 1997 with "Gummo," a stylized poverty drama about a random assortment of oversexed and undereducated Ohioans recovering from a recent tornado. He followed that film with "julien donkey-boy" in 1999, which he made according to the stringent rules of the then-novel Dogma '95 manifesto. Korine has continued to make films regularly ever since, most of them playing out on the edge of sexuality, poverty, and depravity. His most recent film was the visually caustic "AGGRO DR1FT."

Korine became a celebrity because of these early movies, and even appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman" three times in the late 1990s, presented as a kooky Bohemian outsider kid to Letterman's well-behaved audience. Not everyone saw Korine's movies, but many understood his importance in the indie film world. 

And then, after 1999, Korine never appeared on "Late Show" again. No explanation was given for years. He was just gone. Letterman wouldn't explain Korine's absence until 2012, when the star of Korine's "Spring Breakers," James Franco, appeared on the show. Letterman revealed on the March 25, 2013 episode of his show (written up in a report from IndieWire) that Korine got kicked off the show after he had been caught rifling through Meryl Streep's purse.

Harmony Korine got caught rifling through Meryl Streep's purse

Franco had heard a rumor that Korine was kicked off the show because he had actually gotten angry for an unspecified reason, and that he physically shoved Streep. Letterman cleared up the rumor, as there was no shoving involved. It seems that Letterman was merely going backstage to make sure Streep was comfortable. Streep wasn't in the green room, but he did find Korine invading her private belongings. As Letterman put it: 

"I went upstairs to greet Meryl Streep and welcome her to the show, and [I knock on the door] ... and she was not in there. And I looked around, and she was not in there, and I found your friend Harmony going through her purse. True story, true story. And so I said, 'That's it, put her things back in her bag and then get out of here.'"

And that was it. Korine never went on Letterman's show again. Franco was shocked to hear the story, and impressed that Letterman personally kicked Korine off the show. Franco defended the director, explaining that, in the late-1990s, Korine might have very well been on drugs. Franco explained that Korine is now sane and sober, but that in 1999, he was a wild child. He also encouraged Letterman to have Korine back on "Late Show," as he was no longer out-of-control. Franco said he could vouch for Korine. 

Of course, Franco himself would be ousted from Hollywood when, in 2018 and 2019, several women alleged he committed various acts of sexual assault against them. Franco was taken to court, and the lawsuit was settled out-of-court. Franco hasn't had much work since. 

So, when it comes to appearing on talk shows, Korine would have to be the upstanding one to vouch for Franco's character. That is, if Korine or the late-night talk shows would even want to discuss him.