Hollywood's favorite wacko James Franco told reporters at the SXSW premiere of Spring Breakers that he's lost three ad campaigns this year and he suspects it's because his latest projects have explicitly queer and homosexual themes.

Franco told a reporter: "I did three sex-related projects at Sundance this year. One was directly gay-themed or queer-themed and one had some queer themes in it, and I've lost three advertising campaigns now because the companies say they don't like my image, but I know it's directly related to the films I put out at Sundance, so I can say there is still this homophobia or prejudice against this kind of material in mainstream cinema."

The projects James is referring to is Spring Breakers (in which he plays a thug who performs oral sex on a pistol), Interior. Leather Bar (a film about a gay bar), and Kink (which is about the porn site based in San Francisco's armory building). Franco doesn't name the companies that dropped him, but is sure the reasons had to do with his Sundance films this year.

Advertisers tend not to like the faces of their brands to be unpredictable in any way. Mila Kunis lost her Dior handbag deal because she gained a few pounds and wore sweat pants while getting coffee once or twice, after all. So while I don't doubt that homophobia is very real in mainstream cinema and advertising, there are plenty of other reasons advertisers might not like Franco's image: he's known for running his mouth, he constantly looks like he just did a bong hit, and he makes weird YouTube videos impersonating Justin Bieber in hotel rooms.

While ad campaigns are part of the business of being a celebrity, we hope James Franco just keeps being James Franco. You do you, dude, and leave the modeling to Channing Tatum or some other pretty face that's decidedly less interesting.

[via Business Insider]