Do we like Seth Rogen?
Our score: 8 out of 10. He apologised for his old homophobic gags, fights for Alzheimer's research and speaks up against Trump-era attacks on science, with one friendship stain.
Seth Rogen grew up in Vancouver, started doing stand-up as a teenager and was cast in Judd Apatow's TV work before becoming the face of a whole school of stoner-and-heart comedies. He wrote Superbad with his childhood mate Evan Goldberg, and the pair have been making things together ever since. Lately he's gone prestige: The Studio, his Apple TV+ Hollywood satire, swept the 2025 Emmys.
On the harm check, nothing nasty turned up in his recent words or acts. He's been a loud critic of Trump-era politics: at the 2025 Breakthrough Prize he joked that Silicon Valley's backing of Trump, plus RFK Jr, could wreck a lot of science, and the joke was cut from the official stream. The Breakthrough Prize Foundation said edits were made to meet the run time.
His Israel comments are the contested bit. On Marc Maron's podcast in 2020 he said the idea of gathering Jews in one country 'doesn't make sense', which angered many Israel supporters; Rogen said it was a joke that got misread. Where you land depends on whether you hear a flippant aside or a dismissal of Israel's existence, so we flag it rather than score it.
The Franco chapter is the real asterisk. After multiple women accused James Franco of misbehaviour, Rogen said in 2018 that he'd keep working with him; in 2021 he told The Sunday Times he had no plans to work with him again. Franco denied the specific allegations in a lawsuit that was later settled, and Rogen wasn't a defendant. It took him a while to move, which is why this isn't a clean sheet.
The good stuff is plenty. With his wife Lauren Miller he started Hilarity for Charity, whose first big event raised over $300,000 for the Alzheimer's Association. In 2014 he testified to a US Senate subcommittee about Alzheimer's research and called out the empty seats after senators left. Few celebs go to Capitol Hill and say the awkward thing.
Reportedly he's still swinging at powerful targets in 2026, with a Netflix Is a Joke set aimed at Kanye West. Add The Studio's record Emmy haul and he's at a career peak. A decent bloke who's cleaned up his own act and puts his fame to work for a cause.