James Franco accused of assault by Freaks and Geeks actor Busy Philipps

'He threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me'

Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, Busy Philipps, James Franco on 'Freaks and Geeks' (Rex Features)

Busy Philipps has claimed James Franco physically assaulted her on the set of Freaks and Geeks, labelling him a "f**king bully".

Phillips made the allegation in her upcoming memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little, a passage from which has been obtained by Radar Online and Yahoo Entertainment.

The actor describes filming a scene for the cult TV series in which her character, Kim Kelly, hits Franco's Daniel Desario gently across the chest. Franco was caught off guard and apparently got aggressively upset.

“He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, ‘DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!’” she writes. “And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me.”

Phillips claims that everyone who witnessed the incident was horrified and that co-star Linda Cardellini advised her to call her manager.

She writes that Franco apologised the next day after being ordered by the director and producers, but no disciplinary action was taken.

The assault claims come months after Franco was accused of sexually exploitative behaviour by five women. He previously said of allegations made against him: "I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice because they didn’t have a voice for so long. So I don’t want to shut them down in any way.”

Franco's representatives have been contacted by The Independent for comment on Phillips's allegations.